Madness in my Universe
by Cloud Traveler
Summary: "So, the Akatsuki is searching for the lost powers of a Goddess, the God of the Underworld wants you dead, one of you actually saved an insane woman who tried to kill you, the other is dating a psychotic mass-murderer, and this man here is Madara Uchiha." - "Yep." - "...Get out of my house." Sequel to Akatsuki in my House!
1. Extraordinary

**So, this is the sequel to **_**Akatsuki in my House**_**. If you're a new reader, I HIGHLY advise you to read that first or you will have absolutely **_**no **_**clue about what's going on in this one.**

**Yep, you heard that right. Unlike most OCs-meet-Akatsuki fics where everyone is a stupid Mary Sue and nothing makes any real sense and canon characters are completely raped (yet somehow those stories actually manage to get a shitload positive reviews? What the hell, man?), this one actually has a plot. **

**So if you care about the plot, correct characterization and likable characters, go read the prequel first and if you like what you see, you can start on this one with no worries.**

**To those who have read AimH: I wasn't going to post this for a whole month. Well, that's what I told myself. But then I realized that I'd be knee-deep in my studies by that time, so instead of torturing you and making you wait like, three months for the sequel, I decided to post it up early!**

**Before you move on, there's two things I want to note. **

_**Giant spoiler incoming concerning Tobi's identity!**_

**First, the whole Tobi situation. In AimH, I assumed Kishimoto wouldn't be so predictable and… well, let's not even go there. In any case, I alluded vaguely to Tobi being in fact a much older person than he actually is, because I thought Kishimoto wasn't going to take the most obvious option and make it Obito. So then, I was presented with two options for this sequel: ignore Kishimoto's decision and make Tobi someone else, or retcon my own story. In the end, I decided that Tobi being Obito did have priceless emotional value (even if it brings with it a few timeline and plot-related issues), and since I love melodrama, I'm going with that. Tobi is Obito. **

**Second and last thing I want to note, is that considering the plot and the world this sequel takes place in, it'll have less humor than its prequel. Oh, don't worry, dramaqueen, there's still going to be plenty, but it'll take a slightly darker tone, otherwise it wouldn't be "realistic", so to speak.**

**That was all I had to say, sorry if this turned out too long. I hope you enjoy the story!**

* * *

It was a most deafening explosion that overpowered any other sounds in the environment – a blistering heat scorching everything it could touch the minute it hit the ground. The flames licked at the grass and the trees, the gentle wind helping it spread to a much wider area in the meadow it had initially fallen into. In a giant crater at least ten feet deep, there it rested, dimly glistening in the sunlight. All creatures in the area had fled the minute it had fallen down out of the swirling blackness that had stained the canvas of the sky – and yet, no one had seen it. The object of this destruction, the cause of the smoldering embers and the dark, suffocating smoke, was a most simple construct, oddly appealing and terrifying at the same time. The sense of overwhelming power it exuded was enough to overwhelm any untrained mind, to destroy if you even got too close.

It lay there for almost an hour until a few unlucky souls stumbled upon it, emerging from the forest surrounding the meadow, no doubt their curiosity having been awoken by the smoke that rose high up into the sky. They were simple men, not even shinobi, and had been travelling together as a band of friends. Their clothes were ragged and dirty, and they didn't seem like the most wealthy of men. They slowly approached the sinister crash site, and the bravest of them moved slowly to the edge of the crater. The smoke and fire had dimmed over time, and now there was nothing but the odd item lying in the middle of the rubble.

The bravest man, and also the one who looked the worst off, had frozen the minute he'd looked upon it. It was made out of a translucent shell which was formed into a star with five sharp points. Inside it was an impossible swirling energy of red and green, constantly moving around each other like water and smoke.

It called to him. He could hear it – the most alluring, female voice echoed through his head. One that sang songs of power and echoed stories of greatness. The poor man, under the illusion this was a promise to him, slid down the crater's edge, completely ignoring his friends who were calling out to him. The fact was that this diamond star held the history of one far too powerful for any simple man such as him to comprehend. It called out to its rightful owner, but when the mortal in front of it took it up in its arms, it decided that perhaps it could use this man as its vessel – for it was not only power that swirled through the diamond shell. It was a part of a soul, the purest part, locked away from its other half.

But man's sin can corrupt even the purest soul.

His greed overwhelmed whatever fraction of spirit was locked away in the shell, and the contents of the star turned into a black ooze as it twisted and turned and cried futilely for its other half. The mortal gasped, his knees buckling under the weight of these sudden powers that started seeping into him through his arms while the diamond star was gradually being drained. However, one mortal can only hold so much before he might be overwhelmed, so the minute he felt like his chest would burst, he dropped the diamond star, which had been emptied one third of the way through.

Unbelievable power surged through his veins, and he felt like he could take on the entire world. Almost driven insane by the amount of strength he'd gained – for no ordinary man could ever hope to take on such divine powers and retain his sanity – a wicked grin spread across his face as he stared down at the diamond star, the black ooze completely still within its confinements.

He turned to his friends who were eyeing him worriedly from the edge of the crater, staring down with concerned frowns and bemused looks.

"Hey, you two, come over here for a second! I found the most extraordinary thing."

* * *

**Alex**

I had no idea what had happened, but by the time I'd looked up they were already gone. Only the God of the Underworld was left standing, a look of pure rage on his face while the rest of his pallid features were oddly smooth - not a splinter of emotion other than burning anger shining through his silver eyes. His dark hair and thick beard moved mildly with the wind as he then turned his gaze towards me while I was lying down on the grass, feeling completely befuddled at what had just happened. They'd fallen through a black hole in the ground – _a portal_ – and it had swallowed them whole, not leaving a single trace left of their presence. I was dumbstruck, slowly getting up from the ground as I realized Gaara and Kakuzu had pushed me out of harm's way, but Suzan and Ella were nowhere to be found. An icy breeze hit my face as I looked around. The ground was burned and had several holes in some places, evidence of the battle that had just taken place, though there was nothing left of the corpses nor of the weapons they'd brought with them to battle the guys. It was as if it all had completely dissolved and taken away with the wind.

"W-what just… where did they go?!" I spun around and turned to Hades, momentarily in a complete panic. "Bring them back! They weren't supposed to–"

"The only one who can open portals to different realms is Hecate. She has probably taken them back to their respective universe." Though his tone was calm, his glare sent a horrible chill down my spine. For a moment I was petrified. "You're on your own." With this said, he turned around and walked towards the woods, disappearing in its shadows. I stood there for a long time, wondering what to do.

They were gone. Just like that. How?! How could they've just… disappeared off the face of the earth like that, and what was I supposed to do now?! I took a deep, shaky breath and pulled out my phone out of my pocket, dialing my guardian's number. He picked up immediately and I told him I needed to get picked up, briefly giving him the address of the place I was at. The feeling of helplessness settled in my stomach as I realized I might never see them again. I'd made my peace with the guys, but Ella and Suzan didn't belong in their world! Especially Ella – who knows what could happen to her in such a dangerous place?

I decided, as I waited to being picked up in front of the large and deserted mansion, that there was nothing I could do and settled on seeing my boyfriend as soon as possible to get all of this off my mind. Still, the feeling of helplessness settled in my gut and I gritted my teeth.

"Fuck. Fuck!" I cursed, slipping a hand through my hair, realizing I might have just lost my two closest friends forever.

But the world kept spinning, and even if they were gone, mulling over it endlessly was not going to help me. I let out a deep sigh, shaking my head. I just needed time to… to deal with it, however difficult it was going to be. At least I had one other person to rely on, but it was going to be tough.

'_Why the hell did Ella jump in front of her?! Why couldn't she have just… just… damn it all to hell!'_

I hoped that they were at least safe and would be happy, wherever they might have ended up.

* * *

**Ella**

When I woke up I felt dizzy and my movements seemed very restricted, not to mention the immense exhaustion and slight aching of my head that plagued me. The sunlight hurt my eyes and I blinked, narrowing my eyes as I stared down at my body and realized I was tied up with chains – to other people, no less. I vaguely tried remembering what had happened as I looked around dazedly. I was in the middle of a forest, the dark wood trees towering above me as leafs rustled mildly in the wind. The extravagant chirping of birds was almost an assault to my ears and I shuddered at the sudden breeze hitting me. My bright red, messy hair was draped over my shoulders and pale skin, and my eyes were irritated as I blinked some tears away, imagining the whites of my dark blue eyes having turned red for whatever reason as they stung quite a bit. I glanced over to my left, feeling something hard pressing to my shoulder and recognized it as Madara Uchiha's armor, who tugged the chains which otherwise refused to budge.

'_What's going on here?' _I then took a glance to my left and froze. The person who'd caused all of this – memories flooding my mind as I remembered what had happened – was tied to us. She was sitting there with her elegant white robes, the faintest glow over her smooth features. Her eyes were their usual dull blue color, and her black, wavy hair hung sleekly but lifelessly down to her waist.

The Goddess, Hecate – all of this was her fault. I remembered what had happened as my thoughts started to clear up. I'd protected her from Tobi, because I couldn't stand by and watch anyone get _murdered_, no matter who it was and what they'd done in the past, I would never forgive myself if I'd let that happen and did nothing. In the end, he'd shoved me out of the way, but I had bought her enough time to open up a portal, and we'd fallen down.

I gasped when I realized I was probably no longer in my own world anymore. I certainly didn't recognize this forest, but a more pressing matter demanded my attention.

Who the heck had tied us up?

"Oh no! We're trapped!" I heard Tobi call out from behind me, though I couldn't turn and look in my position. So he was there too – wait, why didn't he just go through the chains in his ghost-mode?

"Whoever you are, release us." I then heard Sasuke demand, meaning he was there as well and most likely tied to Tobi. Who was he talking to? With a frown I turned and looked to the left.

There, a few feet away, sat a slender woman with her legs crossed as she was leaning her hands back on the grass, dressed in a short and thin dark blue kimono with a black sash, and knee-high, black boots. Her dark hair had a purple tint as it reached her hips in large curls, and her eyes were a shade of light green. She watched us – or rather, was staring at the guys I couldn't see from my position – and didn't seem very intimidated. I noticed a sheathed sword on her back, clipped to her sash.

Wait, a kimono and a sword that looked like it was a katana? My eyes widened as a very probable possibility crossed my mind in an instant.

'_Don't tell me–'_

"Try asking me politely, and I might just put it on the bottom of my to-do-list for today." the woman replied derisively to Sasuke, her voice clear and almost commanding.

"We mean you no harm." another familiar voice spoke, and I felt relieved. So Itachi was here too, but what of the others? What happened to Suzan and Alex? And… and where was Kakashi?

"Guarantee me my safety, and I'll let you go."

"How can we, when you don't trust us?"

"Would you trust three criminals that just fell out of the sky?"

"You have a point. So what do you intend to do with us?" I listened attentively to the conversation, still feeling dizzy and drained of my energy so it was hard to concentrate. Okay, so this woman knew about the Akatsuki or something. Whatever. My butt hurt and I just wanted a soft bed to sleep on. I looked at Hecate, and though I couldn't see her expression, I figured she must be angry right about now. Her shoulders were tense and her breathing was heavy, or maybe she was just really tired? We had drained her of most of her powers, after all.

"I might just decide to hand you over to Kumogakure. I haven't decided yet." I barely heard the woman say this as I suddenly felt Madara shift beside me.

I suddenly felt a weird sensation overwhelming my brain for a moment. I shook my head as it suddenly started to ache so bad I was convinced it was going to burst. It was worse than a hangover. What was happening to me?

"You–" Madara snarled next to me, probably having recognized Hecate. I winced at his harsh tone as it echoed through my head, making it feel like someone was poking my brain with a machete.

"You should be grateful, boy. I brought you back to your world, didn't I?" I heard Hecate retort icily. So, there was the confirmation, we _were _in their world. Too bad I was in too much pain to care.

"Yes, right after attempting to kill us. This changes nothing."

"Madara, please, can we discuss this later?" I pleaded, attempting to calm him down so that his harsh tone stop assaulting my ears already. From my peripheral vision I noticed the woman suddenly shooting up from her place in a ridiculously fast fashion as she put a hand on the handle of her weapon, gazing at Madara with wide eyes. I took a deep, shaky breath, but then blinked when I saw Tobi appear behind her, rising out of the ground. He put a kunai against her neck and she froze. He unsheathed her katana in one fluent movement, and put the tip against her back.

"Un-chain them, please?" he asked in his childish voice. The woman gritted her teeth, seeming to be weighing her options. I watched anxiously, hoping she'd just do what he wanted before it got ugly. She scowled and started walking towards my group first, kneeling down near Hecate. The chains rattled, and then dropped. I didn't stand up immediately like Madara did, taking the time to stretch my arms. Not to mention I felt too exhausted anyway. Madara grabbed Hecate by her arm and jerked her up, the Goddess stumbling for a moment.

"I have no powers left. I pose no threat to you any longer." she hissed at him. "Unhand me!" She'd straightened her back and was glaring at him, no trace of fear on her face nor in her voice. Her pride, despite the blows it had had, was still intact, and she had a defiant look in her eyes. I had to say, I admired that, at least. He could easily slit her throat right then and there, yet she refused to give in. Madara actually seemed to consider that for a moment, but then glanced at Tobi.

"Where's the crystal?" he demanded, referring to the star-shaped diamond container they'd used to drain her powers. Right, he still needed her to get back to his own time.

"I lost my grip on it during the fall." Tobi responded simply, dropping his childish façade. "It could've landed anywhere." My jaw dropped.

"W-what? So… so her powers are just _gone_?" How the heck was I going to get back home now?! Hecate seemed just as outraged.

"You complete _imbecile_!" she screamed at him in fury, and I cringed, holding a hand to my head as her voice boomed through the area, and again a wave of energy hit me full-force. "Do you realize what could happen if some mortal discovered it?! The consequences could be– be…." Suddenly Hecate gasped, grasping at her chest as if she was having trouble breathing. The emotion in her eyes changed from bewildered, to furious to… scared? She then stumbled a few steps backwards and she fell, fainting on the spot. Madara caught her with a displeased frown, and at least she'd stopped screaming now so my head didn't hurt. Still, that had been a weird look on her face. I sighed, deciding it probably wasn't all that important.

"She has no more energy left." I looked up at Itachi as he walked towards us, followed by Sasuke. "Are you alright?" he asked me as I was still sitting on the ground, and stuck out his hand. I shook my head as I took it and he helped me get up.

"I feel like I'm having a huge hangover." I mumbled, rubbing my temples as another wave of dizziness hit me. Itachi helped me stay on my feet as he grabbed my arm to keep me from losing my balance.

"Now, what should we do with you?" Tobi muttered thoughtfully at the unfamiliar woman and she narrowed her eyes.

"How about you leave?" she suggested harshly. "I can't possibly imagine what you'd want from a woman living humbly in the middle of nowhere." she added with a sneer. She had some guts talking to a man who was threatening her with her own blade like that.

"That won't do." Tobi replied with a sigh. "We're drained and we need a place to rest. Your cabin seems like the best choice we have at the moment." Her eyes widened slightly, and she seemed alarmed. "What's with the look? Hiding something?"

"Where's…." I looked at Sasuke who'd spoken up and was looking around, then fixated his gaze on the cabin. I followed it and spotted Madara already standing in the doorway of the little house, holding up a struggling child by his shirt. When had he gotten there?

"Is this yours?" he asked the woman dryly, whose gaze hardened. He held up the child in front of him, and it looked almost comical. "You should teach him not to randomly attack someone three times his size. It could get him killed."

"Stop that!" I yelled instinctively, feeling sorry for the terrified boy. I blinked and my knees nearly gave in as even the act of _yelling _had drained me so quickly of my energy. Yes, I pretty much sucked at anything that involved any kind of physical activity, but I wasn't _that _out of shape. Right? Itachi shot me a questioning gaze but I merely shook my head, writing it off to being disoriented from the fall.

Madara gave me an annoyed look, but dropped the boy to the ground nonetheless. Tobi suddenly put the woman's katana back in its sheath and took a step back.

"Wouldn't you be so kind enough as to let us stay for a while?" he asked in a mocking "polite" tone, his visible Sharingan flashing dangerously through his eyehole. The woman seemed to know she had no chance to win and submitted.

"If you so much as lay a _finger _on him–"

"What do you take us for, woman?"

"Criminals."

"Tsk, tsk. Your blatant discrimination wounds all my sensitive little feelings. Is that any way to treat your guests?" I rolled my eyes at this conversation as Itachi hesitantly let me go when I gently pried his hand off me, feeling like the dizziness had subsided a little, and looked at the unfamiliar woman.

"I'm really sorry for bothering you. Even if they're jerks, they won't hurt you or that boy." I said sincerely, feeling the need to apologize for just randomly taking over her home, even though it seemed there was no other choice. I was dying to lie down or at least sit somewhere semi-comfortable. She stared at me for a moment longer with a stone cold expression, simply nodded once and turned her back on us, walking towards the confused boy sitting on the ground. He was a small boy with large, hazel eyes and dark blue hair, which the woman ruffled affectionately as she looked down on him.

"Didn't I tell you to stay inside?" she said with a mild frown.

"But… but that scary old geezer suddenly came inside a-and I thought something happened to you, mama!" the boy whined, pointing at Madara who was still standing outside, and raised an eyebrow.

"Old?"

The woman grabbed the boy (apparently her son), by his hand and led him back inside, passing Madara without even so much giving him a glance. She had some steel nerves, that's for sure. She didn't even seem stressed out or intimidated – there was only a steely gaze in her eyes. I wondered who she was to be so calm in such a situation, as I slowly went inside, followed by the others. I suppose she was just pissed we'd taken over her house, which was totally understandable. It's not every day that random people drop into your backyard and then threaten you with your own sword.

The cabin was small, but just big enough to fit all of us. It had an upper floor as well, but the ground floor was basically two rooms. A living room, and a "kitchen". It didn't have modern technology, and I couldn't imagine the food being prepared was up to the standards I was used to. No bathroom either. I blinked, realizing they _were _living in the middle of a forest between the mountains, so… yuck. Oh well. It was nature – though still… yuck. Did they bathe in a lake or river or something or what? I had no knowledge of such things and got curious about how they lived.

Either way, in the living room there was an old couch, a dark wooden table with matching chairs and a bookcase. Nothing else, very simple living.

"Where's Hecate?" Sasuke asked as he entered the cabin as well, asking Madara.

"Upstairs, out cold." he answered, and I frowned as I sat down on a chair – which was a little wobbly. What was up with her fainting all of a sudden? I thought she was a big shot Goddess who couldn't _possibly _be defeated by mortals, bragged about unleashing tsunamis and such on us – then she goes and practically faints in the arms of the man she swore to kill (amongst many, many others).

I thought about it, and decided she might just be even more psychotic than Sasuke during his most psychotic episode. Which was pretty psychotic. I was also sure I wasn't even using that word in its right context, but hey, this was in my own head so it didn't really matter.

The woman and her son were seated on the couch by now, and Sasuke sat down next to them, on the only other empty seat. The boy glanced nervously at him, then stared at me with interest as I was seated right across him, apparently not thinking of me as a threat. Which I totally wasn't. In fact, had my head not been hurting like someone had just cracked my skull open with a sledgehammer, I would've thought how cute he looked with his large eyes.

"So not only where we separated from the others during the fall, but you lost Hecate's powers as well." Itachi summed up, talking to Tobi who was leaning against a wall right next to a window. I rubbed my temples in an attempt to ease the pain somewhat.

"Tch, this portal was far more unstable than the first one I fell through." Tobi replied curtly, crossing his arms. I scowled, but couldn't remember anything from during the fall, only when we'd initially fallen down. I could only remember hearing people around me screaming or cursing, and seeing them fall down together with me, while we surrounded by what seemed like a pool of black… stuff.

"Probably because she exhausted herself. Or rather, because we drained her."

I lost interest in the conversation and glanced at our "hostess" and realized I hadn't even introduced myself. I took a deep breath, feeling the odd pain subside somewhat, and looked at her. Her gaze shifted from Tobi to me and met mine. I attempted a friendly smile, though I think it failed and looked more like I had a toothache or something.

"My name is Ella. Nice to meet you." I stuck out my hand to her as the room suddenly went silent.

'_Great, an awkward silence. Just what I needed.' _I thought a little embarrassed. She glanced at my hand, then back at my face, a thoughtful frown before she FINALLY took it after five whole seconds of staring.

"Kiyomi Fujimoto." she responded coolly, briefly shaking my hand. The hard gaze in her eyes never left – very different from her amused attitude when she thought she'd had us cornered. Her rough palm felt strange against my soft one. I could tell she probably worked a lot with her hands. Was she a kunoichi, then? She did have a katana, after all.

"I'm Haruki!" the boy suddenly spoke up happily, seeming to feel completely safe now in his mother's presence. I wondered how old she was to be a parent already. She didn't look any older than me. I cocked my head slightly to the right as I stared at both of them.

'_Hmmm… am I missing something?' _Kiyomi raised an eyebrow at my stare.

"I adopted him, if that's what you were wondering." she stated slowly, and I blinked.

"Oh." I mumbled, embarrassed I'd missed the glaring differences between the two.

'_Duh! They don't look anything like each other.' _Kiyomi now shifted her gaze to the others.

"I've heard of you," she remarked as she spoke to Itachi, then looked at Madara, who was sitting on the other chair. "You, on the other hand, I'm not sure what to think of." She didn't seem the slightest bit interested in either Tobi or Sasuke.

I just realized all my companions, minus Hecate, were Uchiha. Well, maybe you could count Tobi out as I still didn't really know _who _he was, but for now, I included him in that group.

No Suzan. No Kakashi. No Alex. No Deidara, Gaara or Kakuzu – just my luck. Stuck with one bitter Goddess, one masked sociopath, one legendary dissident, and one kid with a brother-complex. At least I still had Itachi – that is, if Sasuke didn't decide to get possessive again.

Either way, my game plan was simple: Avoid Tobi and Hecate _at all costs_. If not, consequences might include: a mental breakdown, manic depression, some form of a psychological disorder, broken bones, severed limbs, holes in your body (I gently touched my still wounded shoulder and winced slightly), a flayed corpse, etcetera, etcetera.

Okay, maybe that was overdoing it. But I still didn't want to risk it.

"How so?" Madara questioned her, bringing my attention back to the conversation, and Kiyomi scowled.

"I have a hard time believing you're really Madara Uchiha."

"That's your problem, not mine."

"If you actually are the real thing, I'm curious as to how you got here. You spoke of a portal before. That strange woman, I'd assume, had something to do with it?" she stated, ignoring his previous remark altogether. I frowned, trying to remember when they'd mentioned the portal. Oh, right. A minute ago. I shook my head and slid my hand through my hair. The headache was less now as I was sitting down and resting, though there was still a slight stinging sensation.

"I don't see why we should explain that to you." Madara, in the meantime, responded to Kiyomi, who leaned back into her seat.

"Well, you are staying in my house, though I don't have much of a choice. I was merely curious." she answered, almost hostilely. Haruki, sitting next to her, was now more interested in Sasuke.

"Your hair is funny." he said with an innocent smile, and I snorted a laugh as Sasuke frowned at the kid, but otherwise ignored him. At least, attempted to. "Who are you?" Haruki questioned him curiously. Sasuke glanced at him, not interested in answering him. So, Itachi did it for him.

"His name is Sasuke Uchiha. He's my younger brother."

"Oh." Haruki let his gaze wander off to Itachi for a moment, and was instantly distracted and seemed to forget Sasuke. "I saw you in that picture book mom keeps! Are you famous, mister?" I chuckled, immediately growing fond of the brazen boy. He was probably referring to a bingo book, which kept all information on every missing-nin. I at least remembered that from the series.

"…You could say that." Itachi responded quietly as he stared down at the kid, who didn't seem perturbed by his gaze for one bit.

"Haruki, were you snooping around again?" Kiyomi scolded him, and Haruki pouted.

"I got bored." he mumbled. She sighed, but otherwise forgot about it.

"How long are you planning on staying here?" she asked the men, obviously not happy by our intrusion. Which was an understatement. She looked like she wanted to skin one of them alive.

"Until we've regained our strength." Madara answered.

"Huh?" I was confused for a moment. "You're tired too?" They certainly didn't look that way. Itachi took the liberty to explain it to me.

"Yes. Hecate's portal was unstable, and the transition back into this world was… unpleasant. We won't be able to even walk a mile in this state."

"Oh." But then why didn't it show on their faces?

…Right. Uchiha. Being hard to read is basically genetic.

"What is this Hecate person, exactly?" Kiyomi asked, though she didn't seem too hopeful for an answer. I bit my lip as there was a momentary silence, and decided to answer her.

"She's… um, simply put, she's a Goddess." Madara scowled at me and I crossed my arms, defensively. "If we're going to stay here for a while, I think it would be more comfortable if she trusted us, right? What harm could it do?"

"Have it your way." he responded coolly, seeming mostly indifferent. Kiyomi looked at me expectantly, and her intense stare was making me a little uncomfortable. She didn't question me about the Goddess, and seemed to want to hear everything I had to say before asking anything. I took a breath and started explaining.

"Well, first of all, I'm from a different universe." Not a single reaction, just a inquisitive stare. "The woman Madara – er, Madara-sama?" I corrected myself when I received a glare, "Right, that woman he brought upstairs is Hecate, and she's the Goddess that started all of this. Me and my friends, um, accidentally summoned these guys from this place and, well, we got into a fight with Hecate, to put it simply. We had the help of the God of the Underworld in defeating her and sealing her powers, but _some people_–" I glowered at Tobi, to which he chuckled "–tried to kill her and I didn't want that, so I saved her. She opened a portal and brought us all back here. But we lost the container in which we stored her powers, so I guess the first thing we have to do is look for it." I finished my explanation, and she kept staring, then looked away thoughtfully. Then started to laugh.

"That is the most preposterous story I've heard in ages."

"But it's true!" I exclaimed, though I realized she had a point. Kiyomi merely smiled.

"Did I ever say it wasn't? I'm just saying it's ridiculous. How many people did you summon? All of the Akatsuki?" she inquired amused, putting her elbows on her knees and resting her head on the back of her hands. The sudden switch in her attitude confused me. It was like she had only two emotions – either amused or harsh.

"Almost all of them. They got separated from us." I responded, then frowned, realizing that finding them might take a long time. "Suzan's so lucky; she got to stay with Hidan." I grumbled to myself, though I was overheard.

"What? You're not satisfied with little old me?" Tobi cooed sarcastically, and I rolled my eyes. Kiyomi, however, raised her eyebrows.

"Hidan? One of the Akatsuki, yes?" I nodded. "Suzan is one of these friends you mentioned, I'd assume. She's involved with a mass murderer?"

"Um… yes?" Kiyomi blinked twice, but otherwise didn't react.

"So then, you summoned these people, including him." she noted, briefly looking at Madara. "Which would mean he's the real deal? You just took him out of his own time?"

"Pretty much." I confirmed, not bothering to explain he'd been a, er, _gift _from Hecate. She seemed surprisingly calm.

"I see." she said softly, the corners of her mouth twitching, almost cracking into a smile. "What of this other God you mentioned?"

"Yeah, the God of the Underworld, Hades. Uh, speaking of which, I can't imagine he's too happy with what happened." I spoke aloud, and Tobi snorted.

"He'll probably come after us once he figures out how to get here." My eyes widened, and I nearly shuddered at the prospect of having the God of the Underworld trying to kill me. I shook that thought off, however. He wouldn't actually try to kill _me _just to get to Hecate, right? I started growing concerned for the others who got separated from us, and hoped they were alright.

"This is quite the situation." Kiyomi remarked wryly, as Haruki had become bored (obviously not having paid any attention to what was being discussed) and he stood up, walking towards the kitchen and disappearing from sight. "To summarize: the Akatsuki are searching for the lost powers of a Goddess, the God of the Underworld wants you dead, one of you actually saved an insane woman who tried to kill you, the other is dating a psychotic mass-murderer, and this man here is Madara Uchiha." There was a silence as I thought it over.

"Yup." I said with a nod, and she sighed, shaking her head.

"Please," she spoke, closing her eyes for a moment, "get out of my house."

"No can't do." Tobi replied dryly.

"As much as I'd love to get involved – because really, this is priceless – I have a child to take care of and I'd rather not die before he's capable of fending for himself."

Okay, this woman was _really _weird. Why the heck would you want to get involved into something like this?! We might have a God chasing us, for heaven's sake!

"We'll leave as soon as we are able, so I doubt you'll be in any real danger." Itachi told her, though she didn't seem very convinced as she leaned back into the couch, glancing over once to Sasuke who was sitting at the other end and had been mostly quiet and observing the others. Another silence settled in the room and I sighed.

This was going to be really awkward from now on, wasn't it?

* * *

**Suzan**

"What the hell are you talking about?! They have to be around here somewhere!"

Dammit Ella. _Dammit, Ella! _Out of all the fucking people on the godforsaken planet you had to go and play "hero" for that stupid witch?!

Had she completely forgotten the tiny (not so tiny) fact that _Hecate tried killing us_?! What the hell was wrong with her, seriously? Sometimes I really doubted her sanity, especially since her _stupid_ action had gotten us into this mess now! We were separated, Hecate was nowhere to be found, I had no idea what had happened to the others and I was stuck with Dumb and Dumber who kept arguing about the stupidest shit right behind me as I was marching through the forest to god knows where. Kakashi grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me back, making me trip and fall down on my ass. I hissed at the sudden pain shooting through my body, and started getting dizzy. Nevertheless, I was far too determined to let such a thing stop me. I closed my dark brown eyes, trying to make the wooziness go away.

'_Dizziness? Ha! I spit in the face of dizziness!' _

Apparently, dizziness politely disagreed.

The moment I got up again the whole world was spinning and I would've fallen down again had Kakashi not supported me. I felt tired, disoriented and my head was aching. My brown, otherwise straight hair was a complete mess, and I had smudges of dirt on my tanned skin and clothes.

"What the hell!" I exclaimed frustrated, not in the mood to deal with any of this shit.

"Sunagakure is _that _way." Kakashi stated dryly, pointing to the opposite direction of where I'd initially intended to stalk off too. I glared.

"I don't care about Suna, I want to find Ella!"

"Suzan–"

"Who knows what could've happened to her! Do you even realize who she's with?! Or maybe she even landed somewhere completely alone and is lost!" Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed ever so slightly in mild irritation.

"Don't you think I want to find her as much as you do?" I didn't really have a response to that, and simply stared at him for a few seconds. Fine. I suppose my temper had gotten the best of me for a second there. "Of course we'll set out to find her eventually, but for now we need to regain our strength – and also, deal with _that _situation." he then added quietly, looking over his shoulder as I stood up straight again, and looked at our other companions.

Deidara and Hidan (Dumb and Dumber) were arguing with each other again after Hidan had made a remark about Deidara's fighting abilities or something of the sort. Kakuzu didn't even seem to care anymore, but Gaara seemed uncomfortable. I assumed Kakashi meant the temporary alliance we'd set up in my world to combat the Goddess together. There was no longer a common enemy, however, so obviously we needed to figure out how this was going to end. Were the Akatsuki guys going to turn into enemies again? I scowled, hoping that wouldn't be the case.

"Guys? Shouldn't we decide what to do now instead of – HEY! Will you listen for one second?!" Hidan stopped his yelling and glowered at me.

"He called me a dickbag! I can't let that shit slide, alright?!" he exclaimed childishly, pointing at Deidara, who rolled his eyes.

"You started it, yeah."

"Like hell I did! I was only giving you feedback on your fighting style as constructive criticism so you could improve on it in the future."

'_Bullshit.'_

"Hidan, if you're going to tell a lie, at least make it something believable." Kakuzu dryly noted. I snorted a laugh, but then shook my head.

"Seriously, we need to figure out what to do next." I then spoke up. There was a brief silence as the guys exchanged glances and I was left waiting.

"Well, the first thing we should do is report to Leader, right? Though… I'm pretty drained at the moment." Deidara admitted, rolling his shoulders.

"But… but are you guys going to fight again?" I questioned. Another, rather painful, silence.

"Most likely." Gaara admitted quietly, and I frowned at him.

"Is that really necessary?"

"As the Kazekage, I cannot let their crimes go unpunished."

No reasoning against that.

The three Akatsuki members suddenly took a distance from the rest of us three, and the whole atmosphere turned tense. Gaara was on one side, me and Kakashi were on the other, and the other three were right in the middle. Deidara kept an eye on Kakashi while Kakuzu did the same with Gaara. Hidan was also turned against me and Kakashi together with Deidara, but he seemed a little hesitant. I looked him right in the eye and he avoided my gaze, but I doubted he'd actually harm me. Nevertheless, he also knew I wouldn't forgive him if he went after either Kakashi or Gaara. The same went for Deidara, who shot an almost apologetic glance in my direction.

Shit, it really didn't look good.

"Now, now. I'm sure we can return to trying to kill each other _after _we get some rest, right?" Kakashi then said casually, effectively breaking the tension.

"We'll also have to figure out what happened with the others, so for now, I guess we have a truce." Deidara eventually decided with a nod, relaxing his stance, and I let out a sigh of relief. Now maybe hope another common enemy appeared out of nowhere, the Akatsuki helping with defeating this random common enemy, and their crimes forgiven. Or something.

Yeah. That only happened in stories.

Wait. I was _in _a story, right? So happy endings weren't all that unlikely to reach in comparison with my own world. Our group eventually decided to head for a small town nearby, and it appeared that we were in the Land of Wind, near Sunagakure as Kakashi had mentioned before, though I hadn't paid attention much because I'd been pissed. The stupid (and at times funny) banter between Deidara and Hidan quickly resumed as we started walking. Kakashi and Kakuzu were mostly quiet, as was Gaara. I just felt uncomfortable. And tired. And had a headache. I looked over the others. Hidan seemed to either be unaffected or completely ignore the weariness, but I could see on Deidara's grumpier-than-usual face that he was definitely tired. It was hard to tell for both Kakashi and Kakuzu, what with the masks and all that, and Gaara kept a completely calm demeanor and face, though his eyelids were just the tiniest bit lowered.

"I need to get back to Suna as fast as possible." the Kazekage then noted when I started talking about what to do after we rested.

"And I should probably get back to Konoha. I wonder if they noticed we were gone." Kakashi added to that. I looked from one to the other, a little baffled.

"So we just split up?"

"We both have our responsibilities to our villages. I don't think Tsunade would like it if I travelled around with the Akatsuki without at least notifying her."

"Right, but how are we going to search for the others?" I questioned.

"I suppose we'll have to meet up at one point. Either way, we can figure that out later." I remained silent at this, and wondered what _my _move was going to be. I'd prefer to stay with Hidan, but I wasn't so sure if it was entirely safe for me to do that. On the other hand, I didn't feel particularly inclined to go hang out in either Suna or Konoha either. I supposed throwing my lot in with the Akatsuki was my best option. Deidara had, after all, become a very good friend of mine and Hidan was my _boyfriend_. Kakuzu was alright once you got through his layers upon layers of dry sarcasm and constant death glares.

The thick forest we travelled through was rather tranquil, and after a few minutes of walking I was starting to feel seriously exhausted. That damn half-assed portal had drained me of my strength. Hidan eyed me curiously.

"Want me to carry you?" he proposed. I glared daggers at him and he raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I'm just trying to be nice!" he complained, and I rolled my eyes.

"I can walk on my own." I huffed irritated, even though my legs were screaming the opposite at me.

"Pfft, stubborn brat." he teased with a smirk, ruffling my already-messed-up hair.

"Knock it off!" I snarled, and he snickered amused, pinching my cheek.

"Easy there, Sunshine. Don't want to sprain your delicate little ankles, right?" I spitefully slapped his hand away, and he just gave me that stupid smirk of his. Really, I was not in the damn mood!

"How are you still so fucking energetic?" I growled, and Hidan shrugged.

"Been through worse." he pointed at the scar on his neck, and I remembered him getting his head cut off at one point. Now that image put a horrible knot in my stomach and I quickly pushed it away.

"Go annoy Dei or something."

"But Sunshine…." he whined, not even finishing his sentence. Was that my damn pet name now? Sunshine? Fucking seriously?! I sighed exasperatedly.

"How the hell do you put up with him on all those walks?" I asked Kakuzu, turning my gaze towards him.

"Even I haven't figured that out yet." he responded while Hidan had lazily slung an arm around my shoulders as we walked. Hidan started telling me about how he was going to teach me how to kick some ass so we could kick some ass together and all this stuff about being a kunoichi or whatever–

'_Fuck, can't I get a soft bed to sleep on already?!'_ I screamed inside my head, not caring about any what Hidan was chatting about at the moment. I was tired, I was grumpy, this whole situation was stressful, and I was dying for a nap. Who had time to think about training?! I had about a thousand questions in my head and it only got worse with the second.

Either way, this was going to be one hell of a ride.

* * *

**That was le first chapter! Let me guys know what you think in the reviews, and suggestions (like which characters/pairings/situations you'd like to see) are always appreciated!**

**-Cloud.**


	2. Beginnings

**Hecate**

Something was _horribly_ wrong.

When I regained my consciousness I found myself lying on a bed in a rather bland and small room. At first I felt slightly dazed as I slowly sat upright, looking around the room. There was a little nightstand right beside me, the door was right across the bed and on the far left side of the room there was a small desk and chair, with a slim closet right next to it. I looked down at my robes and to my frustration, I saw they were stained with dirt and mud. With an irritated sigh, I hoisted myself off the far too uncomfortable bed – for a moment completely forgetting why I had fainted in the first place.

Then a horrible pain bloomed inside of me and my lungs screamed for air as my chest suddenly felt far too tight. I gritted my teeth as I grabbed at the edge of the desk, managing to keep myself standing. The excruciating aching in my torso spread with every heartbeat like a fire, burning me to the core. Accompanying the pain, there was a strangely hollow feeling, and I panted, trying to get a grip on myself.

Only a pathetic sliver of my powers were left. My necromancy, my power over the heavens and earth, all my offensive abilities, my healing powers, my spell weaving – completely gone. I felt empty and a thick blanket of panic settled over me as I realized that that was not the only thing that was gone. A part of my spirit, my soul, had been ripped out of me while I'd been being drained. That incompetent masked imbecile hadn't had any control over what had flowed into the container, had been far too careless and because of that bastard I was now missing a piece of my soul – and it was suffering. The aching in my chest confirmed that. Someone had found the diamond, and had corrupted it. Even if I was separated from my powers, I still had a connection to them since they belonged to me, and me alone.

Oh if only I'd been a little more powerful – I would've engulfed this entire cabin into an inferno of fire and death in my rage. But in this pathetic state, I couldn't even scream as I was completely and utterly exhausted. I took a moment to focus on my breathing, trying to calm myself down. I only had my pride left and I'd be damned if I let that slip from me as well by bursting into a fit of tears and go on a tirade, even if I could _hear _my heart pound as with each passing second I became more and more resentful and furious.

A soft knock on my door woke me up from my musings, and I slowly straightened my back, turning to the door. It opened and for once I was slightly relieved as the sight of red hair greeted me. I had no energy to deal with neither the arrogant clan leader nor the masked Uchiha. Naturally, I knew who hid behind that mask, though I hadn't been interested much. But now, perhaps I could torment him with it as a little revenge on my part? Madara Uchiha wouldn't allow me to get killed after all; he still needed me to bring him back to his own time.

"Um… how are you feeling?" Ella asked hesitantly, looking a little insecure now. I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest. Truly, I could not figure this girl out. How could anyone be this disgustingly emotional the whole time?

"Why did you protect me?" I questioned her boldly, completely ignoring whatever she'd previously said and she bit her lower lip, avoiding my gaze.

"I just didn't think it was up to us to decide your punishment. It would've been revenge, not justice." she replied softly, her hands intertwined behind her back as she stared down at the ground. I raised my eyebrows, thinking about this for a second.

"I've killed uncountable humans, time and time again. Earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados – and you still felt sorry for me?" She opened her mouth to protest it with a frown on her face, but I glared. "Don't give me this pretense of "justice". You're a weak, pathetically emotional girl who just can't stand seeing anyone murdered. That's the only reason, isn't it?" She seemed completely dumbstruck as she closed her mouth again, just gazing at me as if she was seeing me for the first time.

"But why did you do all of that?" she eventually dared to ask.

"Punishment. You have dismissed me, and all the other Gods and Goddesses, as mere myths. Of course we'd retaliate one way or another – though I probably indulged myself a little too much in such things every now and then, but it was never an issue."

"Isn't there another way of doing that?! You didn't have to… to slaughter so many people to get your point across!"

"Perhaps." I admitted. "Once, we interacted with you humans quite a lot, but over time… well, you disappointed us. Most of us turned our gaze away eventually. The more your civilizations developed, the more brutal your battles and wars got and the more they were caused by the most ridiculous reasons. Though while the others decided to ignore you or give up on you, I kept myself involved – I still had a _personal _vendetta against you, after all."

"But all those people – so many of them were innocent!"

"Tch, so what? They found their refuge in the Underworld, didn't they? That is another reason Hades despises me; I always give him far too much work." She still didn't seem convinced, and I sighed, irritated by her complete ignorance. "Listen carefully, _child_. If any of them were truly innocent of any crimes, then they are judged properly and sent to their little Elysian paradise until the end of times. If they were wicked beings they instead go to a Tartarean hell and pay for their sins. Is that not a fair system? What does it matter that their pitiable and mundane human life is over? Don't stand there and _judge _me for my actions – you are about as significant to me as an ant is to an elephant." I snarled that last part, getting fed up with that look in her eyes. Who was she to pretend being some sort of saint and look down upon a Goddess?!

"Why are you so angry?" she instead asked, and the stubborn expression changed as her eyes softened.

Pity.

She _dared _pitying me.

"Get out." I hissed, my eyes widened in my fury – and she looked rather startled and intimidated as she took a step back at hearing my hostile tone.

"I didn't mean to offend you, I-I'm just trying to understand–"

"I don't need your useless understanding!" I screamed irately on the top of my lungs, and within three steps I was near the door, promptly slamming it shut in her face. I stood still for a moment, catching my breath as I glared at the door and heard her footsteps as she walked away. Who did she think she was?! I hadn't _nearly _fallen far enough to… to value the compassion of a being so far beneath me!

I made my way back to the desk and sat down on the chair, burying my nails in the otherwise smooth surface of the wooden table. I _had _to find a way to get my powers back and restore my status. I supposed my little tirade back there wouldn't help. If I wanted my powers back, I'd have to make these people trust me and act like I regretted my actions. I sighed, rubbing my temples. I'd have to keep my ego in check and act friendlier. After all, if I acted like this the whole time they probably wouldn't want to give me my powers back, and I'd be stuck like this forever. I knew Ella would be relatively easy to convince; I'd just have to come up with some sort of sob story and act like I was actually a vulnerable person hiding under some sort of "tough" shell (I snorted a laugh just thinking about it). But the men would be much harder to convince.

So, that would be my plan. Win their trust and use them, for whatever it was worth – not to mention, exact my vengeance on the pathetic creatures that had dared to taint my powers and part of my spirit with their appalling sins. They were going pay me back in tenfold; I'd make sure of it.

* * *

**Itachi**

I was in front of the book case, studying a history book on Kumogakure when the sound of soft footsteps drew my attention. I looked up and saw Ella come down the stairs with a deep frown, seeming frustrated at Hecate's reaction – which everyone had heard. I hadn't expected anything less; she had quite the ego and didn't seem like the type to accept help from former enemies, even if she didn't have a choice.

"Touchy, touchy." Kiyomi remarked amused while she was leaning back against the wall near the stairs. "Someone needs to put her in her place, don't you think?" Ella seemed a little flustered at this remark as she stopped walking right next to the taller woman.

"I guess." she responded hesitantly, probably not wanting to cause a violent situation while we were all tired. My joints felt oddly stiff and a certain lightheadedness annoyed me, while too much sunlight irritated my eyes. The transition back to my own world hadn't been pleasant to say the least, and my body hadn't gotten a proper moment to adapt yet. I put the book back in its place, losing my interest in Kumo's history, and instead opted to watch the two women. Kiyomi's gaze shifted towards Tobi who was by now seated on a chair, leaning it back against the table with two hands behind his head.

"Mask-san, you seem like an awfully snarky man. Why don't you have a chat with her?" she suggested casually and with a very polite tone – even though the derision was evident in her choice of words – as she moved to take a seat on the stair steps.

"Oh? I have a nickname now? You must be very fond of me." Tobi responded languidly, not bothering to answer her question.

"Hardly." Kiyomi retorted with a slight scowl, and looked around the room, as if looking for something to do. So far, she didn't seem like someone who took life around her too seriously – though this could easily be a guise as well. I wasn't sure what to think of her yet, finding it odd she lived out here with a child, far removed from any other villages. I was curious about the reason behind it, but it was just a mild interest and there were more important things to worry about.

Ella didn't seem to know what to do with herself, and eventually trudged to the small couch, taking a seat next to Sasuke who'd folded his arms and had his eyes closed. Naturally he was more tired than I was, what with throwing all those jutsu around during the battle against Hecate.

"Um, where did Madara go?" Ella then asked, looking at me.

"He's outside." I responded simply. He'd left just a minute ago, probably having grown bored of sitting around in a small cabin. I vaguely wondered where the young boy, Haruki, had run off to, but Kiyomi didn't seem too concerned. There was another silence, and Ella was the only one who seemed entirely uncomfortable with it, but she didn't seem to want to speak up either. I wasn't particularly interested in a conversation, and instead found a very interesting and old book on the lowest shelf of the case.

'_The History of the Noble Fujimoto Clan. Hmm.' _

"You won't find anything worthwhile in there." Kiyomi suddenly spoke up, and I gave her a questioning gaze. "It's mostly propaganda – filled exaggerations and the sort."

"Then why do you keep it?"

"To remind myself of what I must never become." She said this as if it were the most mundane reason in the world. Before I could ask her about this, however, she stood up. "Read it if you wish." she told me plainly, and walked up the stairs, leaving the room. There was a moment of silence as I turned back to the book with its dark red cover.

"What is it?" Ella asked curiously.

"Propaganda, apparently." I muttered, opening it up and read over the first page. I scowled, the words appearing somewhat blurry, making it harder to read. I narrowed my eyes, realizing my vision was starting to deteriorate again. In the other world, it had halted and I hadn't had any problems with it, but it seemed back in this world, nature's laws had kicked in again. If I didn't use my Mangekyō Sharingan, I would be able to last quite a while without going blind. Originally I'd intended to die before this happened anyway, but I needed to adjust my plans. I glanced at Sasuke for a moment, and knew he too would feel the effects of using his Mangekyō Sharingan and start going blind as well. The least I could do as his brother was prevent that from happening, no matter the cost.

I looked back at the book and continued reading, though slowly. Two paragraphs in and the clan was already being praised for being the most honorable and powerful one in the Land of Lightning. I saw Ella standing up and walking over to me from the corners of my eyes, and she peeked over my shoulder.

After almost two pages of ridiculous praise and nothing else worth noting, the book actually went into what the Fujimoto clan was about. They originated and had always lived in the Land of Lightning and possessed an advanced nature Kekkei Genkai – the Swift Release, also commonly known as Quick Style. It combined wind and lightning-based chakra, granting the user a virtually instantaneous speed. I'd heard of it before, but had thought of it being nearly extinct – the last well-known Swift Release user had been almost a hundred years ago, and rarely had I heard of another Swift user since then. The book didn't do a good job in explaining how exactly it differed from the Body Flicker Technique either.

"Is that Kiyomi's clan?" Ella questioned, and I nodded.

"Probably, yes."

"But then why is she living all the way out here?"

Voices coming from upstairs interrupted our conversation, preventing me to answer.

"…with a lake nearby. Take this. It's far more practical than the ridiculous dress you're wearing." That was undoubtedly Kiyomi. She seemed to enjoy mocking people.

"How _kind _of you." That sneer was undoubtedly from Hecate. Soon enough we saw the both of them come down the stairs, Hecate holding a yellow robe and a towel. The _former _Goddess – she could hardly be considered one now her powers were gone – didn't even look at us and instead headed for the door, intending to leave.

"Going somewhere?" Tobi remarked nonchalantly. Hecate turned and shot him an intense glare as Kiyomi sat back down on the steps once again, holding a pencil and a relatively large notebook – or rather, sketch book.

"I'll be taking a bath. You'd be wise not to follow me." Hecate snapped unabashed in reply to Tobi, who snorted at the hollow threat.

"If you think I'm interested in seeing _that_, well, then you must have a larger ego than I initially thought." I wondered if this was entirely true. After all, even if most of her splendor had evidently withered away, she still remained a very beautiful woman.

Her personality, however, was an entirely different matter.

Hecate didn't respond to that and left the cabin. In her weakened state she'd be foolish to try and run away – she needed us, after all. There was no doubt in my mind she'd had some sort of plan in mind to regain her powers again, and I'd be very surprised if she didn't. The subtle sound of a pencil sliding over paper drew my attention, as I noticed Ella had lost her interest in the book and had now approached Kiyomi, trying to look at the drawing she was making. Every now and then, the woman would look up from her sketch book and glance at Sasuke, who hadn't opened his eyes once.

I returned to reading the book I'd found, but other than the clan's abilities, I didn't find anything of particular interest – not even their traditions. There were a few notable clan members mentioned, and the several battles they waged in old times. It seemed they'd clashed quite a lot with the Uzumaki clan, and had partaken in the destruction of Uzushiogakure. Other than that, not much to note. Like Kiyomi had said, it was mostly propaganda and filled with mindless praise. I closed the book and put it away.

"Done already?" Kiyomi asked without looking up from her drawing.

"What happened to your clan?" This question did prompt her to halt her sketching for a moment to look up at me. By now Ella had been sitting next to her, watching her draw Sasuke.

"They're still around." was all she said after a few seconds of silence, and went back to her drawing, indicating she didn't wish to speak of the subject any longer. I figured there were a few possibilities here. Either the clan had disbanded and scattered, or she'd left on her own accord – possibly even banished. However–

"Is it safe to assume you possess your clan's Kekkei Genkai?" I couldn't imagine a clan banishing one of their own – most clans were very intent on keeping their respective Kekkei Genkai to themselves.

"Pretty much." she confirmed, then closed her sketch book – at the same time, Haruki came running into the house.

"Mom, it's getting late!" he whined, to which Kiyomi sighed.

"Not today, Haru; we have guests."

"Not today what?" Ella asked puzzled, as Haruki shot a nervous glance in Tobi's direction, but then approaching his mother with a pleading pout.

"Training." Kiyomi responded blandly, then looked over Ella. "You don't know how to fight at all, do you?"

"Um, no, not really." the redhead admitted a little embarrassed. Kiyomi crossed her arms as Haruki started pulling at the sash of her kimono.

"I hope you realize you'll be somewhat of a burden to these people if you can't even defend yourself." she told her, and Ella frowned, but nodded slowly nonetheless. While I did think it would be a good idea, I was definitely not going to force her if she didn't want to. She was fine just the way she was.

"I know, I just never needed it in my own world. I mean, we didn't even have chakra there." The taller woman was surprised by this, her eyes widening slightly.

"Really? So you don't even know simple chakra control?" Ella flushed, staring at her knees in shame even if there was nothing to be embarrassed about. Kiyomi chuckled and stood up, prying Haruki's hand off her clothes. "If you tell me more about this world of yours, I'll teach you the basics." Ella blinked, surprised at this sudden proposition.

"Sure, that would be great!"

"Alright then, follow me." Kiyomi gestured, walking out of the cabin, Ella and Haruki following her. I wasn't sure it was such a good idea as she was tired. Tobi stood up from the chair.

"Now this I have to see." he said amused, and I frowned at him, though I opted to observe as well. Before I went outside, I looked at Sasuke.

"Are you staying in?" He opened one eye and looked at me, slightly irritated.

"Obviously."

"I apologize for interrupting your beauty sleep." I replied dryly as I took my leave.

"Stop making jokes. It's disturbing." I heard Sasuke mumble after me and I smiled mildly. Outside, Tobi was sitting on the grass against the outer wall of the cabin, staring at the three a few feet away as Kiyomi was asking Ella some questions about her knowledge on this world. Ella assured her she was informed, and seemed eager to start already – though Haruki was far more eager, nearly bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Calm down, you. No throwing kunai around until you can walk up that tree." Kiyomi told her son, who frowned displeased.

"What use is walking up a stupid tree anyway?"

"Haruki…."

"I know, I know, chakra control! Fiiiiiine!" he stuck out his tongue and ran off to a nearby tree, staring at it for a while as if forming a strategy on how to handle it. I watched, rather entertained, as he boy in all his passion focused far too much chakra to his feet, causing the bark of the tree to break when he took a few steps on it, and he was pushed back off the tree, falling down.

"Too much, kid." Kiyomi teased him, and he glared as she turned back to Ella. "So I suppose you know your theory, but you have no real experience, is that right?" The redhead nodded. Kiyomi picked up a small leaf from the ground.

"Usually, this exercise is used to improve your concentration, but I suppose it'll help just as well as getting you used to using your chakra." Ella seemed a little unsure at that.

"But I don't even know what–"

"Don't think about it, just do it." Kiyomi interrupted her. "Close your eyes and focus. It'll come to you." Ella bit her lip, but did as she was told. I could see her chakra flow, but for a moment nothing happened and she just opened her eyes, looking at me and Tobi.

"Do you have to watch?" she said unhappily, not very appreciative of our attention.

"Try and stop me." Tobi replied. She glowered at him for a moment, but then closed her eyes again.

"It feels… really weird." she muttered. At the same time, Haruki fell off the tree for the third time in a row, though he had gotten quite a few steps in before he'd lost his focus.

"Stupid damn tree!"

Kiyomi nonchalantly flicked a twig at him, hitting his forehead.

"No cussing."

"Sorry, mom."

She then slowly put the leaf on Ella's forehead, to which the redhead opened her eyes a little startled. "Concentrate on the leaf." Kiyomi told her, and slowly let go of the leaf. Ella looked up, barely seeing the leaf hanging half-heartedly on her forehead, and her expression was twisted in deep concentration. She kept the leaf there for two seconds, then–

"BOOH!"

"UWAAH!" Ella shrieked, tripping over her own feet and falling down on the ground. Tobi tried – and failed – to suppress his laughter, and I sighed, realizing it might take quite some time. "What the heck did you do that for?" Ella whined at Kiyomi, who'd screamed in her ear and startled her.

"I was testing you. You failed." Kiyomi said entertained, grabbing Ella by her arm and quickly pulling her up again, grabbing the fallen leaf as well. "You can't lose focus, but you can't be _too _concentrated either. A part of your mind must always be aware of your surroundings."

"Ugh." Ella scowled discontentedly, but allowed the taller woman to put the leaf on her forehead once again. I then spotted Madara, walking towards us from the right. He glanced once at Haruki – who was hanging on a branch, struggling to get back on the tree – and Ella, who had her back turned on him. He raised his eyebrows at the scene. Ella now managed to keep the leaf on her forehead for a while longer, the seconds ticking by as she kept focused. I could barely see the mischievous glint in Madara's eyes as he soundlessly approached her. Kiyomi saw him, but didn't say anything. He now stood right behind her, and leaned over to her ear.

"_What are you doing_?"

"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!" Ella screamed, jumping up but tripping again and this time landing face-first in the grass. Kiyomi sighed as Tobi snickered once again. Ella blushed in embarrassment, glaring up at the man while he wore an amused smirk on his face.

"Tch, pathetic. You can't even hold your focus for longer than ten seconds."

I was far less amused.

"You can't blame her. She's never had chakra before." I noted coolly, and he looked over at me with a cold look, but didn't respond.

"Mom! I did it, loo–" the minute Haruki had exclaimed that, standing near the top of the tall tree, he inevitably lost his focus and fell down. From that height, he might get injured. I moved to catch him – until a blur of purple beat me. My eyes widened slightly – my Sharingan had only just kept up with the fast movements. Kiyomi caught Haruki in her arms and looked down at him with a deep frown.

"Don't be so reckless." she scolded him, and he pouted.

"Sorry." he huffed grumpily, and she put him down again. Ella got up from the ground, glaring daggers at Madara who otherwise ignored her and retreated into the cabin.

"Hmm." Tobi mused quietly, having witnessed the same thing. It had undoubtedly been the Swift Release; the flow of chakra in her body had suddenly pulsed and circulated through her body rapidly. By now, as she stood still, it was back to a much slower and regular circulation. It was a fine technique indeed. I wondered how fast she could go with that, and what the weaknesses were.

"I think that's about enough for today. It's getting late." Kiyomi remarked, glancing up at the sky as the sun was going down.

"I nearly got it!" Haruki complained, but she shook her head.

"You also nearly broke a leg or two."

Ella then passed me with a glum expression, evidently not happy with her failure as she wanted to get back inside. I stopped her, gently putting a hand on her shoulder.

"With a little more practice, I'm sure you'll get it right." She gave me a small smile, though I could easily see through it. "No one is expecting you to be flawless. Mistakes happen."

"I know, I know. I just want to learn as fast as possible so you guys don't have to worry about me."

"I'm sure it'll be easier once you're fully rested." I reassured her, and she nodded once.

"I guess so. Thanks, Itachi."

When we got back inside, Kiyomi nearly had to drag her son back in as he was pleading for her to let him try one more time. It was endearing how eager the boy was to learn. She, however, refused until he finally gave up, seeing there was no way to convince his mother otherwise. I wondered briefly how those two had met and why Kiyomi had adopted him, but didn't feel like asking such personal questions just yet. Instead I looked at Sasuke who was reading a book, seated against the table.

"Not sleepy anymore?" I asked as I sat across him. Sasuke looked up at me for a moment.

"No." he responded, and returned to the book, turning the pages with a somewhat bored look. Suddenly Haruki also sat down against the table with his mother's sketch book and a small set of crayons in his hand. He put the sketch book down and turned the pages. I caught glimpses of well made drawings, mostly of environments, a few of Haruki – and the newest one of Sasuke while he'd been resting on the couch. Though certainly no masterpieces, they all seemed nicely done. While the drawing of Sasuke himself seemed finished, the furniture around him were rough sketches, as was Tobi who was in the corner of the drawing, sitting on the chair. The real Sasuke looked up from his book and saw it, frowning mildly.

"She drew me?" he said, staring at the drawing with a mild interest.

"It looks nice." I noted. Haruki was now very self-aware of our attention, and pulled the sketch book up out of our view, glancing at both of us. Then he started drawing on it himself with his set of crayons. Ella walked over and peeked over his shoulder, then burst into giggles. It took Haruki about a minute, but then he proudly revealed the drawing.

He'd colored in Sasuke's hair with his dark blue crayon, neatly within the lines. He'd also added a black moustache, a top hat and a monocle, coupled with a bright red clown's nose. I chuckled, though Sasuke was less amused.

"The similarities are _uncanny_." Tobi said sardonically as he shot a glance at the drawing from the couch he was sitting on.

"Don't you like it?" Haruki asked Sasuke with a friendly smile. My brother didn't seem impressed.

"No." The young boy scowled at this.

"You're a jerk."

I disguised my laugh as a cough as Sasuke glowered at me, and casually looked away.

"I think it's very nice, Haruki." Ella told the boy and cheered him right up.

"Thanks! But I only colored it. Mama always makes pretty drawings." At that point, Hecate walked back in. I noticed she looked less exhausted now, and seemed to be wearing one of Kiyomi's garments. It was an identical short kimono, though it had a different print of red flowers and was otherwise completely yellow with a white sash. Her hair was still moist from the bath.

"Took you long enough." Tobi remarked, and Hecate glowered at him. "No need to be so hostile." She narrowed her eyes.

"You tried to kill me."

"I suppose I forgot to mention it was nothing personal. Well, now you know." She glared at him for a moment longer but then turned away, towards the stairs. Kiyomi (who seemed to prefer sitting on the stair steps) shifted a little to the side to let her through and watched her.

"Why _did _you try to kill her, Mask-san?" she then asked Tobi, who shrugged.

"Who knows." I suspected Tobi had made some sort of deal with Hades. If she was killed, he'd probably receive some of her powers in exchange – but it didn't matter anymore, after all, her powers were lost now. Kiyomi frowned mildly at his evasive answer, then turned to look at Madara, who sat on the couch.

"Ego-san," she started, to which Madara scowled at her for the – I must admit – amusing nickname. "Someone should do something about her behavior, you know. She's like a ticking time bomb."

"Do you make a habit of giving everyone nicknames?" he too ignored her question, more irritated with the name she'd given him. She smirked.

"Well, I'm horrible with names, you see, so I always pick the most noteworthy characteristic of a person and make it their name. Though you don't really need one, it has become kind of a habit of mine." She turned to look at Ella. "Yours, for example, I've already forgotten, so I named you Apple-san."

"Apple?"

"Your hair. The color reminds me of apples." Ella seemed happy with this.

"What about those two?" she asked curiously, gesturing to me and Sasuke. I was curious as well. Kiyomi seemed to contemplate it for a second.

"Well, the younger one I'd name Statue-san, because he seems to have the permanent expression of brooding on his face." Ella laughed quietly at this, and I suppressed a smile as the green-eyed gaze shifted to me. "I'll probably call him Bishōnen-san." It was Sasuke's turn to snort a laugh at my expense, and Ella giggled again at this. I suppose I should be somewhat flattered, but it seemed far more likely she was making fun of me. I wasn't too bothered by it, however, and Kiyomi addressed Ella again. "Well, since I helped you out today, tell me something about your world."

"What would you like to know?"

"Well, what does it look like? The place you live in, at least." The two got into a friendly conversation as Ella described to her the town she'd grown up in, and her country. She described how some cities had huge buildings, and also the incredible progress in technology. Kiyomi listened attentively the entire time, as did Haruki, forgetting all about the sketch book which Sasuke had taken up and was looking through. I listened in on the conversation as well, remembering the places I'd seen while in the other world. It had been a most unique and amazing experience. I was almost disappointed I didn't see more of that world, but I hadn't had much of a choice.

Eventually my thoughts wandered off as I contemplated what to do with Hecate and how to solve this situation. For one, Madara still needed to return to his own time. Secondly, we needed to find Hecate's powers before they fell into the wrong hands. We should probably also search for the others eventually – but all of this we could discuss tomorrow morning. Right now, we needed to rest.

* * *

**To those of you not in the know,** **Bish****ō****nen means 'beautiful youth/boy', and though it's mostly a compliment, it can sometimes also be used to mock people, as Kiyomi so kindly demonstrated here. Hehe, I already love writing her :P**

**To those of you wondering about the Swift Release, I did not make it up. It was featured briefly in one of the movies, and I thought it was pretty awesome so I used it here. **

**Lots of love and cookies and rainbows and sunshine to the following people who were kind enough to review!**

**_xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx, Good boy-chan, A-b-san, dettaarsvenska, VongolaXII, Wow, Warrior of Sangre, Kagayaku Hoshi-chan, 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10, Jerrie Higarashi, Cinxisse, SakuraEmma29, mks 12 98, Shadow Realm Triforc_e and _KitkatTenshi_! Much appreciated, guys!**

**Next chapter we'll switch over to the other group and see what they're up to ;D**

**Again, reviews and any suggestions and such are always welcome!**

**-Cloud**


	3. Beginnings II

**Suzan**

I collapsed on the bed the minute I set foot in my shared room, taking in all the space as Hidan scowled at me, crossing his arms. We'd just arrived at the cozy inn near the outskirts of a small town – apparently in the Land of Earth, pretty close to Iwagakure. With no money, Hidan had grabbed the first villager who'd crossed our path and threatened him out of all his coins – not something I necessarily approved of, but hey, I cared far more about resting than having sympathy for some random stranger. Probably selfish, but I was too tired to give a shit. Either way, the money (ryō, it was called) from that guy and some others had, had gotten all of us a room for a night, though Kakuzu, being cheap like he was, demanded on sharing rooms since that cost less money. So, I was with Hidan in one room – which he'd insisted on since otherwise I'd be with Deidara and to hell with that. Apparently he still hadn't gotten quite over his jealousy.

"Scoot over." Hidan whined, leaning his scythe against the wall next to the door. I didn't budge, far too comfortable in my current position, sprawled all over the simple double bed.

"Go sleep on the couch." I huffed, closing my eyes as I let my body rest. Our room did have a small couch near the windows on the left side of the room. On the right side there was a table with three chairs, a small closet for clothes, and also a tiny bathroom.

"That thing is way too small, dammit!" he complained, and I felt his weight pressing down on the bed. I lazily opened one eye to look at him, and the wide smirk on his face didn't promise too much good. "Fine, I'll just sleep on _you _instead."

"Hey, what the–" He promptly put his head down on my stomach, using me as a pillow with an arm over my hips. I squirmed, not feeling quite comfortable and tried to pry his arm off. "Don't do that!" I snapped, and he moved his head to stare at me innocently.

Well, as innocently as he could manage, which wasn't all that much.

"Why? Is it because you're ticklish?" he asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes, and I was instantly panicked.

'_No! Not my ultimate weakness!' _

I managed to roll over on my stomach and attempted to crawl away from him on my hands and knees, but he grabbed my legs and pulled me back, sitting on top of me as he pinned my hands down above my head with a malicious grin.

He then started assaulting my sides with his fingers, and I twisted and squirmed even more as I burst out into laughter.

"S-sto-op!" I choked out in between my uncontrollable giggling, starting to get tears in my eyes. "C-can't… breathe… f-uh-huck!"

"MWAHAHAHA! SUFFER!" he cackled maniacally as I was gasping for breath, my chest starting to hurt from the lack of oxygen.

"STOP IT!" I shrieked, thrashing around and managing to get my left hand out of his grip, snatching a pillow and smashing it in his face, catching my breath as I panted. "Fucking lunatic." I scolded, turning on my back and glaring up at him as he still wore that stupid smirk on his face. Suddenly he blinked, and leaned down, staring at my neck. "What?"

"Huh. That scar is still there." I rolled my eyes. It was a horizontal scar on my neck he had "accidentally" given me while scaring me shitless with his scythe.

"No shit. That's why it's called a scar, genius." He pouted, opting to lie down on top of me. What the _fuck_?!

"You're so mean, ya know that?"

"That's because you're an idiot and _you're fucking heavy, get off me_!" I growled angrily, to which he chuckled. He shifted, his head resting on my shoulder but the rest of his body right next to me so I wasn't being crushed by his body weight anymore. I felt his breath brush my chest and blushed, turning my head away so he couldn't see it. We stayed like that for a while, and I started stroking his hair, having nothing else to do. He closed his eyes and for a second I thought he was going to start purring, if that had been at all humanly possible. It felt nice, relaxing like this as I listened to his peaceful breathing. I could almost fall asleep like this. Then, something funny occurred to me. "Hey, isn't this usually the other way around?" I asked dryly, and he opened his eyes again.

"What is?" he asked confused.

"Doesn't the girl in the relationship usually lie on top of the guy?" He was silent for a moment, eyebrows scrunched up in a frown. "So… does this mean I'm wearing the pants here?" Hidan blinked.

"Fuck no!" he immediately exclaimed, and I snickered at his reaction.

"Who's your daddy?" He just gaped at me, as if I'd just grown a second head.

"A rotting corpse six feet deep underground."

"Way to ruin the romance."

"What fucking romance is that? My gender-confused girlfriend asking me who my dad is?"

"Hey, I'm not gender-confused! I may be born in the body of a woman, but my mind is–"

"Oh, shut up, Sunshine."

"You androphobe! You fear my manliness!"

"What manliness?!" he scoffed, suddenly grabbing my left breast. "_This _little melon sure as hell ain't manly." I blushed a hundred shades of red at the crude gesture and instinctively smashed him in the face with a pillow again, pushing him off me.

"Don't just touch that so casually you prick!" I yelled in a slightly higher-pitched tone than I'd intended, sitting up straight as he scowled at me.

"What? It's just a boob."

"Well, how would you feel if I grabbed one of your nuts, huh?!" He thought about it for a second with a very serious expression on his face, which soon turned into a lecherous grin.

"Well, do you want to?" I smashed the pillow in his face for a third time, my entire face having turned red at the suggestive act. He should've known by now that I wasn't used to things like that, or he did know and he just enjoyed embarrassing me. "Knock it off with the fuckin' pillow already!" he snapped, snatching it out of my hands. I glowered and lied back down, turning on my side with my back facing him.

"Just let me sleep, will ya." I huffed, feeling much too tired to mess around anymore.

"Fine, fine. I'm heading out."

"Where to?"

"Getting something to eat. I'll be back in an hour." I didn't bother watching him leave and heard the door close. With the room completely silent now, I pondered about my current situation, and continued to worry a bit about Ella and Alex until the soft bed lured me into sleep.

When I woke up again I noticed that the sun was setting as its golden rays shone dimly through the window on my left, illuminating the dust particles swirling through the air. Hidan still hadn't returned, and I had a horrible perception of time so I had no idea how long I'd been sleeping. It had done me quite good, though. I yawned and stretched while lying down, feeling a bit more rested and my headache had subsided completely. I got up from the bed, feeling a little stiff but otherwise okay. I slowly made my way out the room, looking around the mostly empty corridor. I could hear Deidara's loud voice from the room next to mine, no doubt annoying Kakuzu, and for a moment I tried to listen in on the conversation until someone suddenly put a hand on my shoulder and scared me shitless.

"The fuck?!" I spun around, nearly tripping over my own feet and came face to face with Kakashi.

"Yo."

"Don't _"yo"_ me, you bastard! I nearly had a heart attack!"

"Sorry, sorry. Were you going out for a walk?" I blinked, thinking about it for a moment. Well, I was _definitely _curious about the village – excited, even. I mean, I was in a world I hadn't thought really existed before.

"Yeah, I guess." I eventually confirmed with a nod. "You wanna come along?"

"I could use some fresh air." So the two of us decided to leave the inn and take a walk around the village. It was a very small town with picturesque little homes and friendly, carefree inhabitants. Somehow, it felt so _wrong_ to me. Fake, almost. In my real world, I had never been in a city or town that had such happy people in it, such a cozy atmosphere. It was uncomfortable, and I wasn't used to people greeting me as I passed by or giving me a friendly smile. So, I tried to distract myself with conversation instead.

"Um, what do you plan on doing once you're back in Konoha?" I asked the masked shinobi walking beside me with his hands lazily stuffed in his pockets. His one visible eye was observing our surroundings as we strolled through the town rather aimlessly.

"First I'll have to see how long I've been gone, and in which timeline Hecate dropped us. I hope I don't suddenly run into my past self – that would be kind of awkward." I scratched the back of my neck, realizing the situation must be quite complicated for him at the moment. Especially for Gaara. "If you want, you can come with me." he suggested, glancing at me for a moment. I bit my lip, thinking it through.

"I think I'd rather stick with the others." I muttered, obviously referring to the three Akatsuki members.

"Are you sure about that? They're still criminals, and it might be dangerous."

"I know, but they'll be searching for the others and I want to find Ella and Alex as soon as possible." I answered, already having made up my mind.

"Alex? Suzan, she didn't drop into the portal." Kakashi informed me with a slight frown, and I think my jaw might've literally dropped from the shock.

"She didn't?! So she's still in the other world?"

"She was just out of the range of the portal, and I believe she was pushed out of the way by Gaara and… er, Kakuzu."

'_Kakuzu?' _I thought surprised, raising an eyebrow. _'So that old fart has a real heart after all.' _I sighed.

"I'm glad. At least she's safe." I said honestly. She was the youngest out of the three of us, and I was relieved she hadn't ended up in such a messed up situation. Though, it certainly had some upsides. For once, I didn't have to really say goodbye to anyone after all, and this… this whole experience was so _crazy_! No matter how many times I looked around me it still felt like a miracle. The people here, the buildings, infrastructure, the feel of this entire world was so _different _from my own. I liked it, I liked it a whole lot more than my own world.

Then my stomach growled. I clutched my stomach, rather embarrassed as Kakashi chuckled. We stopped walking and he turned to look around for a moment.

"Have you ever tried dango before?"

I shook my head, and so we decided to go to a little dango shop. It was odd how my body was hungry, but my mind had completely suppressed that and was far more interested in finding out more about the world around me instead of sitting around and eating – but I didn't have much of a choice. Fainting due to a lack of nutrition didn't seem like a very nice experience, after all. I wondered if we'd run into Hidan, since he still hadn't returned. Maybe we'd just missed him and he'd already arrived at the inn. Inside the humble shop, we sat down at the only other empty table as Kakashi ordered our food. I leaned my elbow on the table and my head on my hand as I observed the other customers.

They seemed genuinely happy, and so… I wasn't sure how to put it. Fulfilled, maybe? So completely content with their lives, so _comfortable_. I'd never felt like that, as such a feeling was completely foreign to me. I'd always wanted something more, always longed for some sort of purpose, some sort of drive pushing me forward. Sure, you could say I'd been studying for a degree back in my world – but that was like the most basic thing you could do. A good education for a good career later in life, and you wouldn't have to worry about finances later in life; common sense, really. It had never been fulfilling. It had simply been a mere necessity.

Thinking about it now, I did once have a purpose, a goal I used to work towards. I'd been a mere child at the time, and what do so many children want? They want to make their parents proud. Of course, I had to let go of that later on. What did I have now? What was my purpose?

Heh, I guess you could say my goal in life was to find a goal. I honestly didn't know. Well, leading a happy life surrounded by the people I loved – wasn't that good enough?

I barely looked up when we got our dango, and stared at the little balls on the stick on my plate. I wasn't a picky eater, so I picked up one stick and took a bite. It tasted pretty good, and kind of sweet. I glanced to my side. Of course Kakashi was seated next to me – it was easier to hide his face while he was eating that way. I wondered what exactly was up with him and Ella. It had always been kind of obvious to me there was a certain chemistry there, though I'd never really figured out how far they'd gotten.

"So, what's up with you and Ella?" I asked casually, taking another bite as I briefly contemplated the taste. Soy sauce? Kakashi didn't seem bothered with the question.

"What do you think is up?"

"Don't try to evade my question."

"Then maybe you shouldn't make it so easy to evade."

"Don't try to derail the conversation either." I scolded, furrowing my brows as I gave him an irritated look. "Are you in love with her?"

"Hmm… define love."

"Kakashi!"

"Just joking." he leaned back in his seat a little, humming as he put a finger to his chin while he contemplated. Or pretended to. Most likely he pretended to. "Probably."

"What the hell does probably mean?" I responded a little irritated at his half-assed answer.

"Well, you can't really force such things. I'm not entirely sure myself, but they say absence makes the heart grow fonder." I rolled my eyes, but I suppose I wouldn't force another answer out of him anytime soon. I finished my meal, and so did Kakashi. He paid, and we left the shop. The sun was down by now, though it wasn't completely dark yet and I wanted to look around more, while Kakashi intended to return to the inn.

"I wanna take a walk. If you want you can go back."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"I'll be fine, it'll just take a few minutes. Besides, this town is safe enough, and I'm an adult, you know." He relented, though he did hand me some money.

"In case you're still hungry. I doubt that dango was enough to fill your stomach." I pouted, though I took the little bag of coins nonetheless, putting it in the pocket of my (somewhat dirty and mud-stained) jacket. Man, I needed new clothes.

"It's enough for now. I'll meet you back at the inn." I told him, certain I remembered the way back and wandered off further into the village. People were still walking around, though the younger villagers were inside and mostly adults were out and about. I wondered what it was like to live somewhere so peaceful, and breathed in the fresh evening air. But of course, with my luck, something had been bound to happen.

He'd bumped into me, nonchalantly, at first. Luckily for me, the guy didn't turn out to be a very good robber – especially since he started sprinting the minute he'd snatched the money out of my pocket. I figured this guy mustn't have been used to robbing, because he'd seemed kind of nervous when I caught a glimpse of his face before he sprinted past me. Not to mention he'd robbed me in the middle of the town square with a lot of people around, and he didn't even bother to put the stolen good away or even hide it.

"HEY! Thief!" I screamed, instantly running after him. "Get back here, you bastard!"

Okay, so technically we'd stolen that money as well, but hey, finders keepers, and I wasn't about to let this guy keep our hard-earned… er, hard-stolen money! While I did have quite a lot of stamina and could run for long periods of time, I was not fast and I _hated _sprinting. As I chased him for a while and he started to speed up, putting more distance in between us, I was about to give up when suddenly someone tackled the thief to the ground. Relieved, I ran over and the good Samaritan knocked the thief out with one swift punch, and stood up, my sack of coins in his hands.

"Is this yours?" he asked, and I was taken aback by his looks for a moment. He had a tanned skin, but silver hair with a light blue tint and grey eyes. He was my length, which wasn't very tall for a guy, and had a slender build. At first glance, he seemed pretty normal – until you took a closer look at his ragged clothes and how messy his hair really was, though he'd tied it down in a low ponytail. He did seem about my age as well, though looked a lot worse off than I was.

"Yeah, thanks, I really appreciate it." I told him, grateful I had the money back as he handed it back to me. This time I made sure to zip my pocket closed.

"No problem. You should be more careful, especially around this time of day." He shot me a friendly smile, and I nodded, then looked at the unconscious thief.

"Uh, what do we do with him?" The man shrugged.

"Leave him there. It would be pretty funny if he got robbed himself, don't you think?"

"I guess." I muttered indifferently, and he stuck his hand out to me.

"Seiji Takaki." I slowly took his hand and shook it.

"Suzan." I responded, and he raised his eyebrows mildly.

"Just Suzan?"

"Well, Suzan Evans."

"That's a weird name."

"Yeah, so just call me Suzan." I nodded, figuring such a name would sound pretty weird in a mostly Japanese oriented universe.

"Alright then, Suzan-san." Seiji said with a smile. I wasn't very thrilled with the honorific (just made me feel old) but it didn't really matter. I probably wasn't going to see this guy every again after today. "Should we go for a walk?"

"Uh, sure." I accepted a little hesitantly, while by now a few people had gathered to look at the unconscious thief and check whether he was still breathing. Seiji started walking through the town square and I followed him, a little befuddled. This was not a character I'd ever seen before – he was kind of an anomaly, you could say. It was pretty cool, meeting a new person like this.

"So, where are you from, Suzan-san?" Seiji asked, seeming genuinely interested.

"Konoha." I lied smoothly. It was the village I knew the most about, after all.

"You're not a shinobi though." he remarked. Lack of forehead protector, no doubt.

"Yeah, I'm just a civilian, travelling, getting to know the world. What about you?" I answered and questioned in turn, not even noticing how late it was getting. Seiji wiped a few of his silvery locks from his face, brushing them behind his ear. I could tell he was trying to formulate his answer carefully in his head. Something to hide, then?

"Same here, though I know a thing or two about fighting. I was an orphan and lived in a small village north from here. Now I'm sort of wandering with my two closest friends." I wasn't one to pry into a stranger's past, but I got a little curious.

"What do you mean by sort of?" I asked carefully, and he pondered this for a moment as well.

"One of my friends has old business to take care of. Family business. So, I guess we do have a destination of sorts."

"Oh. Must be nice." I remarked vaguely, not sure what else to say at that. I was now curious at what manner of "family business" he was referring to but wasn't rude enough to press the matter. He chuckled, however.

"You want to ask, right?" he noted, giving me a playful bump with his elbow. "I don't mind telling you, you're a stranger anyway. My friend has a score to settle. He was betrayed by his family, you see. The reason we came to this village is because we heard rumors of a relative of his being spotted here." I folded my arms as I took in this information.

"Are you sure it's okay for you to tell me all this?" Seiji simply smiled again. He seemed like a very gentle-mannered person, though he had a crude sense of humor and seemed a little morally questionable – but then again, so was I. Leaving an unconscious man in the middle of the street wasn't exactly an act of decency.

"Oh, well, it won't be a secret for much longer." he said light-heartedly, and I was puzzled for a moment. Were they planning on killing this relative, or something? I gulped, realizing it was probably best for me not to get involved in this any longer. Besides that, it was getting late.

"I think I should head back now. My friends are probably wondering where I am." I told him, and he nodded.

"Should I walk you to your place?"

"No, thanks. I'll be fine. It was interesting chatting with you." I told him as I stopped walking, and then so did he.

"Maybe we'll see each other again, Suzan-san. Until then, goodbye." He smiled one last time with a cheerful look, and turned his back on me, proceeding to walk further through the village as I also turned and walked back towards the inn.

So strange. I'd nearly forgotten the feeling of getting to know a person all over again. Strangers could turn out to be the most interesting people if you had some luck. Though, he and his friends might also be insane murderers. I shrugged, not longer concerned with such things as the chance that I'd meet him again was minuscule, and quickly made my way back to the inn.

* * *

**Deidara**

"Where the fuck did she go?!"

"How should I know?! She's _your _girlfriend, yeah!" I snarled at the blithering idiot who'd decided to come bother me just because Suzan was out for a little walk. Seriously, she disappears for just a few minutes and this guy loses his shit! I sighed, leaning back into the small couch of the room I shared with Kakuzu, who was sitting against the table and entertaining himself with a book he'd intimidated the guy at some bookstore to hand over to him for practically no money.

Hidan glowered at me, and then stomped out of the room. I was worried the moron was going to do something reckless and draw attention, so I followed him. In the corridor we ran into Hatake, who raised his eyebrows at Hidan's angry expression.

"Why so upset?"

"Have you seen Suzan?" he huffed grumpily, and I rolled my eyes at his childish behavior.

"Yeah, we went to grab something to eat." Hidan gaped at him for a moment, then looked around, and even behind the man.

"Where is she?" he finally asked when he didn't spot her.

I suppressed the urge to facepalm.

Well, at least no Tobi. That was a plus.

"She wanted to explore the town a little more. She'll be here in a few minutes." Hatake responded nonchalantly, entering his own room and closing the door. Hidan crossed his arms, not happy with that news.

"You're being way too possessive, yeah." I stated dryly, leaning against the wall as he spun around and faced me.

"Shut up, blondie. This town could be really dangerous, you know!"

"Ooooh, you're just worried?" I smirked, spotting the opportunity to embarrass the religious idiot. "That's so cute, yeah."

"Zip it, she-male!"

"I never imagined big, bad Hidan throwing a hissy fit over a _girl_." He glared daggers at me, clearly itching to have at it, but we couldn't just blow our cover in our weakened state and destroy the damn inn.

"Don't act like _you _don't care! What if she gets attacked by some crazy pervert, huh?" I blinked, not having thought of that before. She was all alone, and as far as I knew, she couldn't fight to defend herself either – plus it was evening now, the sun down and the sky dark. The two of us considered what Hidan had just said, and nearly shot into a panic. I didn't have feelings for her like Hidan did, but I still considered her a good friend of mine and it would suck if she got hurt.

"Alright, screw it! Let's go find her, yeah!"

"Already ahead of you!" The two of us nearly ran through the hallway, when we suddenly collided into someone else, who cursed loudly and fell down on the floor.

"What the hell?!"

"Suzan?" I said surprised as she glowered up at us, not happy with the sudden bumping into each other as she was the only one on the floor.

"Oh, you're back!" Hidan said with a grin, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I'm back. Where the hell were you guys running off to like that?" she asked a little annoyed as she got back up, refusing to take Hidan's hand.

"Uhm… we were actually going to look for you." She gazed at us like we were complete retards. Well, Hidan actually was. I wasn't. But whatever. The guy wasn't all that bad, but still pretty damn annoying. I wouldn't exactly consider us friends, but I wouldn't say we were enemies either. Rivals? No, not really. Maybe hostile friends, or something? Was that even possible?

"Why? Have I been gone that long?" she asked with a frown.

"No, it's actually just been twenty minutes."

"You guys… ugh. Whatever, I just wanna go sleep."

"In those dirty clothes?" I asked, looking over her dirt and mud covered jeans and jacket.

"Well, you can always sleep in your underwear." Hidan suggested with a wink, and she turned bright red.

"Sh-shut up!"

"Hey, weren't you all over me just yesterday back in the other world?"

"That's because I thought I'd never see you again, bastard!" she huffed indignantly, starting to walk towards their shared room. Hidan followed her, making more teasing remarks and to be honest, I felt kinda left out. I mean, I supposed it did seem kind of fun, having a girlfriend and all that. In the end I shrugged, being content with my art – the big love of my life – and retreated to my room, deciding to go to sleep. Kakuzu didn't speak, didn't even glance at me and seemed to intend to stay up all night and read his book.

I got into my single bed, ignoring the old humorless fart, and started to fall asleep rather quickly, until a sudden storm came up. There was thunder and lightning for quite a long while, the wind howling against the walls and windows of the inn, though the sound of the raindrops hitting the windows was pretty tranquilizing. I fell asleep after the loud noises of thunder had subsided.

When I woke up the next morning, Kakuzu seemed to have already left the room. I yawned and got out of bed, washing myself in the bathroom, and afterwards getting dressed quickly, though heard quite a lot of noise coming from downstairs in the lobby of the inn. I left the room, curious to what was going on, and ran into Hatake, _again_.

"What's going on?" I asked with a slight frown. His usually relaxed gaze had hardened somewhat.

"It seems this town isn't as innocent as it looks." he said first, which only served to confuse me more, but then clarified. "A man named Atsushi Fujimoto was murdered, probably overnight." I blinked.

"Atsushi Fujimoto? Doesn't ring a bell. So?" I asked apathetically, not understanding why I should care.

"His body was mutilated and they replaced the bucket of one of the village's water wells with it. The first one to discover it had tried to get the bucket out and instead found the body hanging on the rope."

"Nasty. Nearly ruins my appetite." I muttered grouchily, though something strange occurred to me. "Wasn't it storming all night long? How did they get the body on the rope outside with that weather if it was overnight?"

"Well, I heard the body was fresh and the man had been seen walking around just yesterday evening. They probably did it early in the morning." Hatake responded, as we walked downstairs. I suddenly found it odd how _friendly _I was being with this guy who'd practically cost me my arm. I scowled at myself – I guess I'd gotten used to him back in the other world.

"Do they know who killed him?"

"I heard they did have a suspect. A guy with silver hair, apparently." I shot him a look and he stared back. "Nope."

"What? You could've–"

"Why would I go out and kill a random person, then present it to the rest of the village to see?" I shrugged.

"I dunno, maybe it's a weird fetish. Like those books you read, yeah." Hatake didn't respond to that as we were finally downstairs, and I saw that the others were ready to go. Suzan, however, had a troubled expression on her face.

"What, you actually met him?" Hidan asked her, a little shocked. "Holy crap, he could've killed you!" She shook her head.

"He said his friend had a score to settle."

"Who did?" I interrupted as I approached the others.

"Apparently the brat met the local murderer yesterday." Kakuzu answered dully, and I was slightly alarmed.

"Really? You met him?" she nodded.

"I had a chat with him and everything. He seemed like a nice person, as far as I could tell, though I suspected he was up to no good." She readjusted her ponytail for a moment.

"Huh. Odd."

"Well, not much we can do about it, let's go already!" Hidan exclaimed, clearly having gotten bored with the town. This was where we went our separate ways. We needed to contact leader to tell him we were back and inform him of the situation so far, while the Kazekage obviously needed to return to Suna, and Hatake to Konoha. Suzan had decided to stay with us, and I had no complaints with that. I wasn't all that big on goodbyes with the other two. I briefly wondered if after this we'd go back to being enemies again, though I didn't really care either way. Suzan told Hatake to take care – who seemed reluctant to let her go with us – and told Gaara to hurry up and get his ass back before his village spontaneously exploded because of a lack of leadership.

Kakuzu seemed to have oddly taken a slight liking to the Kazekage as well. He even told the brat to not get himself killed too easily!

Hey, I know how that sounds, but for Kakuzu, that was pretty damn affectionate, you know. So, the two eventually left. Their journey probably wouldn't take much longer than a day, anyway.

As for the four of us who were left, we needed to contact leader one way or another, though I was sure he'd contact us himself soon enough with that freaky telepathic ability of his. In the meantime, though, we had to stay on the move. Being in one place for too long was asking for trouble. Besides that, we needed to find the others. I'd wanted to get some breakfast, but with the murder-thing going on it wouldn't be long until at least _one _of these dim-witted villagers were going to recognize we were actually criminals and then all of that would be a huge pain in the ass to deal with.

Apparently I'd slept in for a little too long. It was already afternoon, and Suzan had found herself new clothes – very simple dark blue pants and jacket with black boots and shirt – which was a whole improvement. She didn't fit in at all because of her lack of Akatsuki cloak, but we'd just have to deal with that for now.

Suzan asked Kakuzu if he'd ever heard of a family or clan with the name of Fujimoto. She seemed really curious about this whole murder-scene, for some reason. He responded by telling her that there had been indeed a Fujimoto clan many decades ago, and they'd been relatively well-known but their numbers had dwindled over time and they had isolated themselves from the outside world. Apparently they had some sort of impressive Kekkei Genkai or something – I lost interest at that point and absent-mindedly molded some clay in my hand to pass time as we traveled further and further away from the town.

Though for some reason, I couldn't get rid of this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as I thought about the day's events. I stopped for a moment when I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine, as if someone was staring at me. I glanced over my back. No one was there.

"Hmm. Probably my imagination."

* * *

**Tadaa!**

**And so the plot comes swooping in to save the day!**

**Naturally, I won't tell you anything about what relevance all of this has to the overall story and how everything is connected. All I can say for now, is to pay attention, I suppose.**

**Yes, unlike the last story in which I pulled everything out of my ass as I went along, no joke, I have actually written the plot of this entire thing down on paper. The main plot, anyway. **

**And, well… let's just say it's going to be one hell of a WTF-OMG-NOOOO!-rollercoaster at certain points. That's all I'm giving away, hehe. **

**Huge thanks to **_**Shadow Realm Triforce, dettaarsvenska, imma dino hear me roar, Good boy-chan, SakuraEmma29, Red Hot-Blooded Kunoichi, Untitled, Cinxisse, X-x-Moon-X-Glows-x-X, Omigesh, KitkatTenshi, Thunder Krystal, Jerrie Higarashi, **_**_Guest_ and **_**TwilightZelda**_**!**

**Next chapter we'll switch back briefly to the other group, and some other stuff which I cannot reveal yet because that would destroy the suspense. Or something. Tension. Stuff. Not really a plot-twist. Well, maybe? Nah. I dunno, lolz.**

**Suggestions are always appreciated!**

**I lovez the reviewz! Givez me the reviewz, plz?**

**Bye-bye!**

**-Cloud. **


	4. A Haunting Past

**?**

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

The three of us were walking through a thick forest with tall trees towering above us, nearing our destination as we were hidden in long, black cloaks with the hoods pulled over our heads, covering our faces. I was on edge, as what waited before us might turn out to be too much for us to handle. The leader of our group was walking up front, and I glanced at my short friend walking beside me, the young man no doubt just as anxious as I was, though he was much better at not showing it.

"You worry too much; relax." I still wasn't very reassured by those words. This wasn't just a simple hunt-and-kill mission of a single person or just a few people. We would be completely outnumbered and even if we were now much stronger than before, there was always the chance we could be caught off-guard.

I sighed and shook my head. Once Norio had set his mind on something, he wasn't ever going to let it go. That's just how he was: very, _very_ stubborn. He led us through the woods with an unshakable determination, and all I could do was have faith in him. The youngest one of our trio was completely silent; of course, he'd do anything to please Norio. I myself wasn't all that thrilled, but I owed Norio my life and if he wished to use it to complete his own goals, then I would oblige.

At least we had the advantage of a surprise attack. Norio had, after a long time of focusing and trying to summon his new powers, managed to open up a portal near our destination. Usually, it would've taken us at least three days to get here.

"We're here." Norio abruptly halted, right on the edge of the woods as it seemed to lead to a cliff. I frowned as he didn't move, and walked out of the cover of the trees instead.

Beneath the cliff stood a small but wide village, surrounded by these woods and large hills, safely tucked into the middle of the mountains and no doubt hard to find if you didn't _precisely_ know the location. Norio took a deep breath and I turned around to look at him.

He smiled. It was a hollow one.

"It's time."

* * *

**Kiyomi**

It had been quite annoying, trying to figure out where everyone was going to sleep. Naturally, Haruki would have to sleep in my bed with me. Apple-san (I still couldn't remember her name) and Goddess-san (hers neither) were going to have to share Haruki's bed which was an average sized single bed – and no, I couldn't care less about what quarrel they had or how uncomfortable they were with this; they'd simply have to deal with it. I didn't care where the men slept either, I simply handed them a few extra blankets and left them to figure it out on their own. They'd probably have to sleep on either the couch, chairs or possibly on the ground.

The night passed by relatively comfortably for me as I thought about my eccentric "guests" before I fell asleep. Apple-san amused me. She was like a child, and I'd always had a soft spot for children. It would be a shame if she died, so I hoped for her sake she was smart enough to keep training herself. Goddess-san was an interesting woman. It was easy to tell she was suffering, though her temper tantrums and tirades made it hard to sympathize with her. She had a certain air of dignity and aristocracy in the way she carried herself – something appealing but off-putting at the same time.

Ego-san (or rather, Madara Uchiha) was, as his nickname suggested, a very confident man. I wouldn't say arrogant just yet – after all, he was completely capable of backing it up with actions, that much I knew. Certainly, he had an interesting history. Or was going to. Hmm, such an odd situation. Then, Mask-san; a very snarky man. Annoying, a true nuisance, a menace, a pest, a troublemaker – and so on and so forth. Oh yes, threatening me with my own blade had not left me with a good first impression and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have the urge to slit his throat and be done with him. I still hadn't figured out how he'd moved behind me without me noticing, and the sooner he left, the better. He was just the kind of person who rubbed me the wrong way. I wasn't entirely sure why, but his character, his voice, the fact he hid behind a mask like a coward – it was all very irritating.

Then, lastly, there were the two brothers. Statue-san I'd vaguely heard off considering he'd been the only survivor of the Uchiha clan massacre. I'd also heard he'd defected from his village a few years back, and I wondered, and wondered, and wondered – but I couldn't wrap my head around _why_.

Why did he seem so comfortable around the murderer of his family, his clan? Had he been in on it? Impossible; what young child would cooperate in such a slaughter?

This brought me to Itachi Uchiha. Had he done something to the young man? Or was there more to this story? True, he was infamous for being a ruthless and cold-blooded killer, but he didn't _seem _like it, or at least, I didn't get that vibe off him. It was a poor excuse, but I had the gut feeling there was something bigger behind all of this – there had to be, otherwise the picture I was seeing now simply didn't fit. As such, I had no thoughts on Itachi Uchiha. I hadn't decided yet, and I would refrain from making any remarks about his character until I felt I had the whole story.

As such, I decided I would never make a single judgment on Itachi Uchiha. It was only fair – the chance of getting the truth out of either of them was next to zero after all.

I stared at the sleeping form of my child, his mouth slightly open while he softly breathed through it and he was starting to drool on the pillow. A faint moonlight fell through the window, reflected in my eyes as I sighed, gently turning my son on his back. I'd prefer not to sleep on a pillow covered with drool, no matter how cute the boy looked.

"Four years, huh." I murmured to myself, leaning over Haruki's peacefully sleeping figure, my head leaning on my hand with my elbow pressed into the mattress as I stroked his messy, dark blue hair.

Time truly flew by when you were a parent. One could say sixteen was far too young to adopt, but I couldn't think of anything else to do to save this boy's life as he'd wandered through the village I'd lived in at the time, looking completely malnourished and covered with bruises and wounds, with filth and mud staining his ragged clothes. No one else even wanted to touch him, afraid he was carrying diseases or something of the sort. I initially had never _intended_ to adopt him; I figured I'd just take care of him for a while and then drop him off in an orphanage, but the brat grew on me and in the end I couldn't let him go. Truly, he worshiped the very ground I walked on, though as he grew older this blind adoration turned into a more thoughtful respect – which I was glad for. I didn't want him to mistake me for some sort of flawless figure, because if I did ever disappoint him, the hurt would be so much greater if he thought of me as being impeccable which I most definitely wasn't.

My parents, well, they'd disagreed with my decision. No one accepted him, except for me, and he soon became fairly miserable with no friends to play with and most other adults shunning him or ignoring him. He wasn't one of _us, _my father had said.

_One of us_.

What does that mean, anyway? Who decided who was an outsider and who wasn't? Who said you had to be blood-related to fit in? It was such an archaic concept, and it infuriated me to no end. Clan traditions were so _backwards_. Weren't we all humans? Such arrogance to claim one was better than the other based on something petty like your last name or your birthplace disgusted me.

I think that in the end, Haruki's unhappiness in my hometown was one of the reasons I'd fled. Not the main one, but certainly a huge factor. Another factor was my frustration with the antiquated traditions my clan insisted on sticking to as they isolated themselves from the rest of the world.

However, the main reason–

"Mmm…." Haruki stirred in his sleep, interrupting my reminiscing. "M-mama," he then whimpered softly, and I frowned in concern, stroking his hair as I watched his face twist into a frightened expression. After all these years he still hadn't told me about what had happened to him before I found him. Maybe he didn't remember, as he so often claimed, yet he still had regular nightmares and I felt powerless as I could only watch and do nothing. "Mama!" he whispered again, looking like he was about to cry, and my frown deepened. I softly caressed his cheek.

"It's okay, Haru-chan. I'm here." I cooed soothingly, and his squirming slowly stopped. I kissed his forehead and his expression slowly relaxed. His panting became regular breathing again and I observed him for a while longer, before becoming tired myself, putting my head down on the pillow and closing my eyes. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

When I woke up, lying on my left side, the bright sunlight shone mercilessly through my curtain-less window, having replaced the moon's gentle glow. Only a few branches from the trees gave me some reprieve as I shifted, trying to move into the shadows. The birds were singing as if greeting me on such a radiant morning with a bright blue sky and no clouds in sight. I was perfectly still for a moment, realizing Haruki wasn't lying beside me anymore, and listened for any sounds in my house. Soon enough I heard soft chatter coming from downstairs and I rolled on my back, staring up at my ceiling rather listlessly for a few seconds before getting up out of bed and walking to my small closet in the corner of my room, opening it and pulling out a green kimono with a dark green sash for today, matching my eyes perfectly. I quickly changed and trudged out of my room, to the corridor and downstairs. To my surprise there were only three people present. Goddess-san was wearing her own clothes again, the yellow kimono I'd given her the other day hanging over the arm of the couch next to her. It seemed like she'd cleaned her own dress, and had cut it, making it shorter and easier to move in. She merely glanced at me as she was seated on the small couch, but didn't react to my presence otherwise.

My eyes slid to the table this time, resting on Apple-san who was seated against it and studying a large map she'd spread out on the wooden surface and was studying while Itachi-san was standing behind her and talking to her, pointing to the country we were in; the Land of Lightning. They briefly looked up.

"Good morning." Apple-san greeted me with a polite smile. I nodded, not interested in talking, and promptly walked out of the house without another word. No point in bonding with these people if I were to never see them again – besides that, I wasn't a morning person. Haruki was, and I'd never understood that.

I walked out the house and found my son, to my surprise, walking on the tree with a calm pace, and I stood still, watching him reach the top without any difficulty. Had he been practicing all morning? I looked around and noticed Madara Uchiha sitting against a tree nearby with an apple in his hand, watching Haruki as well.

"I did it!" the young boy exclaimed triumphantly, getting off the tree by letting himself drop from branch to branch, carefully landing on the grass, then spotting me standing near the cabin. "Mom, did you see that?!" he asked me excitedly, beaming as he ran towards me. I smiled fondly, ruffling his hair.

"Very good. Now you might be ready for some serious training."

"Yes, finally!" He suddenly turned to the Uchiha who took a bite out of his apple."Thanks, old geezer!" I blinked, mildly surprised.

"You helped him?" I questioned slowly.

"Hn. " He looked away with an uninterested look. "I simply got tired of watching him fail. And you, brat, stop calling me old." he added rather irritated, scowling at the boy.

"Sorry." Haruki muttered, evidently feeling uncomfortable under his intense stare. I leaned over to his ear.

"Don't mind him, Haru. Deep down he's a sensitive person." I told him softly, and Haruki giggled.

"Really?"

"Sure, he just needs a friend." I confirmed with a nod, suppressing the sly smile which would've otherwise appeared on my face. Childish innocence was so much fun to take advantage of. Haruki, being the good-natured kid he was, turned to look at Madara, first a little unsure as he watched the man stand up, finished with eating his fruit. Then my energetic little Haruki seemed to have made up his mind, and ran up to the legendary Uchiha with a wide smile.

"Do you want to see the waterfall?" he asked unabashedly, staring up at him.

"What?"

"Come on, I'll show you! It's really pretty and it has this little rainbow when the sunlight hits it just right, and there's all sorts of delicious berries around and…." Haruki continued to ramble as his small hand grabbed Madara's, starting to try and pull him away. I was amused as the man didn't seem entirely sure what to think of it, but conceded and allowed the kid to drag him away. I wasn't all that concerned with letting Haruki go with him; while he had been a frightening figure in the past, I highly doubted he would be so malicious as to hurt or kill an innocent child. I turned back to look at my house and noticed the youngest Uchiha sitting on the rooftop, his legs dangling from the edge.

"Enjoying the view?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Statue-san's eyes were fixated at something in the distance; something I couldn't see as the trees were blocking my view. He glanced at me but didn't respond otherwise. I rolled my eyes, taking a calculated step back, letting my Swift natured chakra pulse through my entire body and ran.

He looked startled for just a second, his eyes wide, before they narrowed again, obviously not amused by my sudden motions. He didn't have his Sharingan activated, and so he hadn't been able to follow my movements as I'd ran up over the wall and on the roof quicker than normal eyes could follow. I hadn't been able to use my Kekkei Genkai for a long time, and so I took every opportunity I got to flex my muscles a little and feel that familiar rush.

"Swift Release." he said with a scowl, it being somewhere between a question and a statement, and I smiled mildly.

"Yes. I considered pushing you off for a moment, but I'm not that childish, unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?"

"Of course." I responded matter-of-factly. "Children are naïve and live in their own little world, not troubled by the worries of adult life. Or, at least, that's how it should be. Carefree, living day by day while the future seems so far removed; wouldn't you want to live like that?" Statue-san gazed at me for a moment, almost as if he were considering my words, before he scoffed.

"That's not reality. Living in a fantasy like that is foolish." I'd expected such a reaction. I sat down next to him, leaning back a little with my hands on the roof as I stared up at the spotless sky.

"For an adult, perhaps, but there's nothing wrong with admiring it, is there?" The young man stayed silent. "Then again, you were robbed from such an experience, so I can understand your scorn for it. It makes me wonder. About your relationship with your brother, I mean–"

"It's none of your business." he cut in harshly, and I nodded once.

"Of course. I never intended to get an answer on that anyway. I'm merely curious about one thing." I explained, meanwhile noticing the masked man was nowhere to be found. "Itachi Uchiha, is he a good person?" A silence passed by, seconds ticking away until I finally looked sideways at him. He was staring down at the ground for a while, but then met my gaze head on.

"I'll answer you if you answer a question of mine in return." he stated, which surprised me for a moment, but also piqued my interest.

"Sure, that seems like a fair trade." I responded, putting an elbow on my knee and leaning my head on my hand as I stared at him.

"You were part of a clan. What happened?"

"Straight to the point, I see." I drawled, considering that question for a moment. "Me and my clan, we had some disagreements about how things were run in our little village. I decided it would be best if I left. Naturally, they weren't willing to let me go, but the Fujimoto clan isn't known for being good trackers so escaping wasn't all that difficult." Statue-san frowned at me, once again, and I waited for his reply.

"So you ran instead of fixing whatever was wrong with your clan." I felt slightly annoyed at such a brash conclusion, my eyes narrowing slightly.

"I'm not a coward. I simply didn't wish to complicate things, so I did what seemed like the best option at the time. Even if I had some issues with the leadership of my clan, I cared… no, I _care_ about them."

"What issues?"

"A question for a question. If you want me to answer that, can I assume that I can ask a second one as well?"

"Fine, forget it."

"Now it's your turn. Is your brother a good person?"

"Why do you wish to know?"

"I'm merely curious." The young man averted his gaze for a moment as I waited patiently for a response. What he said next did nothing to sate my curiosity; if anything, it only increased it.

"More than you'll ever know." he murmured almost thoughtfully. I opened my mouth to reply to this, when I noticed something from the corners of my eyes. Quite a distance away, a thick, dark smoke rose from behind the many trees which were already blocking the rest of our view, but it was unmistakably caused by an incredibly large fire.

I realized where that smoke came from, and an instant fear gripped my heart.

'_No, no, no!' _I abruptly jumped off the roof, which no doubt puzzled the young Uchiha who stood up as well.

"Where are you going?" he questioned, and I shook my head, not having enough time to answer that. I stormed into the cabin, narrowly avoiding Apple-san as she stood in my way, quickly running past her and darting up the stairs.

"Kiyomi?" Apple-san called, surprise and concern laced in her voice. I didn't respond as I walked into my room, snatching up my long katana which was sheathed and resting on the wall, clipping it to my sash, together with a small pouch which contained standard kunai and shuriken. As quickly as I could manage, I ran down the stairs again. "Kiyomi! What happened?" I completely ignored Apple-san, her existence utterly trivial to me at a moment, nothing more than an annoying fly buzzing around my head.

Every second was precious.

The Swift natured chakra was pumping through my body once again – I barely noticed two pair of eyes watching me, but Mask-san was just another annoying mosquito in the grand scheme of things. I didn't even care that he decided to follow me, if he could keep up in the first place. I jumped up on a branch and zoomed from tree to tree, my heart racing as I just prayed it was some sort of natural fire, some sort of accident, anything but _that man_. If he'd returned… if he'd returned–

I then realized that if I didn't slow down at least a little, my body would quickly wear itself out – plus my vision was blurry from the speed I was utilizing and the occasional leafs and twigs hitting my face and arms wasn't all that pleasant.

After a few minutes of relentless sprinting and jumping, the scent of fire filled my nostrils as I got closer and closer, one hand already on the sheath of my katana and I was prepared for the worst. My hometown, my village – I'd been soft, after all. Even after I'd left I hadn't been able to bring myself to _honestly _leave. I'd grown up there, always isolated from the outside world, and it had been all that I'd ever known. That small village with their backwards traditions and ridiculous prejudices; I couldn't hate it. I couldn't hate my town, my clan, my family, it was impossible.

I finally arrived at the edge of the woods, running out from between the trees and stopped dead in my tracks, my heartbeat pounding in my ears as I stared down at what had once been a carefree village – now, ruins smothered by fire and death. The houses were completely ruined, I heard wailing and screams for help from whoever had been left from the wreckage which barely resembled a village anymore.

All oxygen escaped my lungs. All that I'd ever known, crumbling down in front of me, _right under my nose_. How hadn't I noticed? How hadn't I seen this coming? How had this happened?! The Fujimoto clan wasn't weak by any means, and if it had been _that man_… but how? How could he have acquired the power to… to–

I bit back an angry scream, jumping over the edge of the cliff, making my way down as all I could do was look for survivors. I neared the first few houses on the edge of the town, which had been utterly destroyed, the remnants being devoured by fire.

"K-Kiyomi?!" I noticed a small group of survivors sitting a few feet away from the corners of my eyes, wrapped in blankets as some of them were crying – most of them, familiar faces. I didn't want to approach them, much too pressed to get into the village and look for my direct family. So I ignored them, instead making my way through the smoke.

"Are there any survivors?!" I yelled on the top of my lungs as I walked through the ruined streets, despair filling my chest and making it hard to breathe. I cringed at seeing the completely burned and smoldered corpses sticking out from the wreck of houses or on the streets, my hands shaking as I tried to keep calm, to not panic any more than I'd already had.

"_H-here_," a very familiar voice meekly called out to me from my left. I instantly made my way to the ruined house on my left, noticing a hand sticking out from under some wood. I instantly lifted the rubble, throwing it off the wounded man and gasped as I recognized my older cousin, whose smooth skin had been scarred by the fire, his hair a complete mess as were his clothes, ripped and torn apart. I fell down on my knees, holding back tears as I gently pulled him out of the wreck. "K-Kiy-Kiyomi? Is… is that you?" he whispered, his voice hoarse and raspy from the smoke as his green eyes stared up at me in surprise.

"What happened, Yasu? Where are my mother and father?!" I questioned urgently, my mind almost clouded in a haze as I couldn't believe this was happening. It had to be some cruel nightmare, it couldn't be that so many skilled fighters were wiped out like this.

"I d-don't know." he coughed violently, while I supported his head, tears sliding down his cheeks as he glared up at me, gritting his teeth with pure hatred in his eyes. "_You_ could've prevented this. If you'd just followed… just followed uncle's orders–" he started coughing again as I was nailed to the ground.

It was _him_. It was him after all.

'_Shit, shit!' _

"How… how did he…." I couldn't even finish my sentence anymore, barely hearing the footsteps of other people approaching.

"Yasu!" My head snapped up as I instantly recognized my father's voice. He was accompanied by a group, no doubt they were looking for survivors. I recognized two of my uncles, and a few other distant relatives. My father stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me. "Kiyomi." Yasu's father wordlessly kneeled down next to me, taking his son out of my hands and didn't even look at me. I slowly stood up, my knees nearly shaking under the weight of knowing that I could've prevented this. A single decision could've changed all of this.

There was a complete silence as the men from my clan stared at me, and I couldn't bring up the will to stare back, my gaze instead fixed on the ground. I took a deep, shaky breath.

"Is mother…?" My father stayed silent. I heard his footsteps, and suddenly a sharp pain struck my cheek. The sound of the slap echoed through the area, over the sound of burning wood and embers.

"She's dead." he hissed. A complete numbness settled over me, and it was almost too much to carry. I couldn't breathe. _I couldn't breathe_. "You… you could've… if you'd just _listened_–" My father's voice nearly cracked and it was too much for me to hear. I turned my back on him and ran. Just like four years ago, I was running again; running from the same mistake, and this time, I had no one else to blame but myself.

As I ran through the burning streets of where once stood a proud village, everything passed by me like it was a blur. I suddenly found myself standing back in the woods again, panting uncontrollably and nearly hyperventilating as I realized all those deaths and all that blood was on my hands and the fire that devoured the village turned to me and burned inside my chest, agony with every breath I took. I dropped to my knees, not even feeling the tears falling down from my eyes even if I could see them, bent over and leaning on my hands – so pathetic. So helpless.

"My, my." My heart nearly stopped. "It's been a while, Kiyomi." That voice…

I slowly turned my head up, spotting a cloaked figure standing between the trees and regarding me with an empty smile.

"Y-you… _you_…." The pain in my chest was smothered by a roaring flame of pure, bloodthirsty rage, red blinding my eyes – _kill, kill, kill – _the urge to tear his throat out overtaking my every thought, my every desire, my every instinct. The Swift natured chakra flared in my veins and with a furious scream I was already lunging at him, not even remembering when I'd pulled my katana out.

He laughed at me, as if I were a mere child. Green eyes were glowing underneath the hood as he smoothly dodged my first and far-too predictable attack. I gasped as I was kicked in the stomach, crashing into a tree. The pain didn't hinder me, I was much too murderous to even care if he ripped my arms right off my torso. I rolled over, instantly getting up on my feet again and lunging at him again. This time he took to dodging my rapid attacks. Suddenly, the feeling of hands clenching my legs distracted me, and I glanced down, my eyes widening as I saw only bones, the skeletal arms holding my feet in my place. This momentary distraction gave enough room for the man in front of me to punch me in my gut so much so that I doubled over and coughed up blood and dropped my sword, at least two ribs having been broken under the impact. My anger had blinded me, making me lash out like a mere animal – but those arms sticking out of the ground, that couldn't be any regular ninjutsu.

"You're pitiful." The man hissed into my ear.

"N-Norio…" I spat, glaring up at him as he gazed down at me with cool indifference. "Why did you come back?!"

"Why?" He took a moment to smile, almost seeming to be amused at my question before punching me in my face, and I fell backwards, my lip busted and bleeding as I tasted blood in my mouth. I panted, gazing at the dead arms which refused to let me go. "Because you let me." I shook my head, gritting my teeth as I reached for the sword which was lying next to me on the ground. Norio promptly stomped on my arm and I screamed out, agonizing pain shooting through it as I heard a sickening _crack_. Despite this, I still managed to speak.

"I… I thought–"

"That you were doing me a favor?" Norio cut me off before I could say anything as he held my arm in place, unable to reach my katana as I was pressed to the ground on my back. "Don't flatter yourself. You were nothing but a foolish child that thought she knew best." He stared down at me for a moment longer, his green gaze piercing through mine. "It wouldn't be any fun killing you like this. You should suffer, like I suffered." He pulled his boot away from my arm and took a step back, the tips of his rust-colored hair barely visible from under his hood. He then promptly turned around and left, disappearing deeper into the forest.

The skeletal hands slowly let go and retreated into the ground. I was left there, and I couldn't even bring up the will to stand up. He was right; if I'd just obeyed father, this wouldn't have happened. Mother was dead, so many others were dead, my hometown was destroyed, everything I'd ever known, my childhood memories, my family….

How had he become this strong? Where had he–

The Goddess? Her powers? Had Norio been the one to find them? That had to be it; how else could he have left the village in ruin like that?

I took deep breaths, shutting my eyes for a moment to try and calm myself as much as I could. I finally let out a deep breath, and slowly heard footsteps approaching.

"You don't look too good." I hardly cared about the masked man at the moment and opted to stay down on the ground instead. I heard his footsteps come even closer and finally saw him towering above me as he stared down. At any other moment, I would've been surprised to see the Sharingan in the single eye-hole of the mask, but I was completely numb at the moment. Defeated, pathetic, helpless, a complete _failure_.

"What do you want?" I eventually hissed, wiping my wet cheeks stained with tears with the back of my uninjured hand.

"Nothing." he responded softly, and for once I believed him. "Are you going to stand up anytime soon?" I stayed silent, looking away to the side. "Your son will start worrying about you." My eyes widened.

'_That's right. I still have… Haruki….' _Visualizing his smile eased the pain burning in my chest somewhat, and I slowly stood up. I felt an agonizing pain in my right arm, specifically my elbow, and moving it at all hurt too much. I could still protect him and as long as he was safe I hadn't failed completely. Once I was up on my feet, carefully sheathing my katana, I looked at Tobi.

It seemed I had some explaining to do.

* * *

**Ella**

When Madara returned with Haruki holding his hand I tried my _hardest _not to let out an _"Aw, that's so cute!"_ or burst out into laughter.

I failed at both.

Haruki simply grinned with a carefree expression on his face, apparently happy with the new "friend" he'd found. Madara didn't look very thrilled at all, jerking his hand out of Haruki's grip who pouted at the sudden motion. The Uchiha then took his time to glare intensely at me and I stared down at my knees to avoid his gaze as I was still seated at the table. I vaguely wondered where Kiyomi had run off to. We were supposed to be leaving soon, after all. I glanced at the map, studying it for the hundredth time as I didn't have anything better to do. Hecate was surprisingly silent, and I shot her glances every now and then, wondering if she was plotting something.

"Um, Hecate?" I asked carefully. The woman seated on the couch looked up at me. She looked a little better than she'd done yesterday, though still somewhat tired. "Are… are all of your powers gone? Because you still have that weird glow." She frowned slightly, looking like she was about to snarl at me, but surprisingly, held back.

"Just a little is left." she instead answered coldly. "I may be able to make some portals, but none that lead to somewhere too far away or different realms."

"Oh." I wasn't sure what else to say about that. She really had some serious issues, or at least, very deep-rooted ones. I was by no means any good at reading other people, but I think she started realizing that she needed us and being cruel or angry wasn't going to help her get her way.

"Where's mom?" Haruki then asked as he hopped down on the couch right next to Hecate while Madara took a seat on the only other empty chair near the table on my right – the other one on my left taken by Itachi who was flipping through the pages of the nth book he'd pulled out of Kiyomi's bookcase that day, probably rather bored at the moment.

"I don't know, but I'm sure she'll be back soon." I replied, as no one else did. Honestly, these people were starting to make the poor boy uncomfortable – though he seemed to have taken the strangest liking to _Madara _out of all people. I really didn't understand that.

Then aforementioned man proceeded to startle me as he glanced at me, like he'd read my mind. Embarrassed, I looked away when he caught my gaze, pretending (and failing) to be interested in what Itachi was skimming over. There was a small silence. I was seated in between two stoic Uchiha, one of which who seemed to enjoy scaring me, and the other who wasn't interested in talking to ease the tension.

I sighed. "What are you reading?" I eventually asked Itachi. He glanced at me.

"A very generic romance novel." he responded, and my interest was piqued.

"What's it about?"

"As far as I can tell, it's about two lovers who were separated because the man was wrongly accused of murder." he muttered, and I started getting bored again when I saw two black eyebrows rise. Itachi was suddenly stuck on one page, and the corners of his mouth twitched as if he were holding back a chuckle.

"What? What is it?" I didn't even wait for an answer and leaned over, reading the page he was staring at.

'_Oh. Oh, wow. That's… that's really cheesy.' _

Ever read a sex scene with a stoic Uchiha sitting right next to you?

Um, yeah. To say it was awkward would be the understatement of the year.

"What's a vagina?"

I fell backwards on my chair, not even having noticed that Haruki had also been there. Itachi didn't seem the least bit bothered by this, Madara blinked once as if wondering if he'd heard it right – and then Hecate chuckled.

The room went silent and we all stared at her. She frowned, and then glowered at us.

"What?" she snapped. "Am I not allowed to have a sense of humor?"

"Of course you are. I just find it oddly disturbing." Madara replied dryly, then looking back at the book. "What are you even reading?" Before either me or Itachi could respond to that, Haruki started blabbering again.

"The woman in the book said the man put his… his you-know-what in her vagina! But I don't know what that is…."

"Yes, I figured as much." the oldest Uchiha said with a slight frown as that didn't really answer his question.

"What, aren't there erotic novels in your time?" I inquired, and he stared at me for a while, which made me feel rather stupid.

"I wouldn't know." he said curtly while Itachi closed the book, putting it down on the table as he'd seemed to have lost interest. Haruki reached for it.

"Haruki, that book isn't for boys your age." Itachi told him calmly, and the young kid frowned slightly, but nodded, pulling his hand back and leaving it be.

"So you don't have any interest in things like that?" I asked Madara, pointing towards the book with my finger.

"No, I don't."

"Hmph. I highly doubt that." Hecate chimed in with a somewhat derisive tone, to which Madara glowered at her. "Human males have always had a rather large libido. There's no shame in admitting it." she said casually, almost casual enough to make me believe she wasn't mocking him, which she was.

"If we're going to generalize humans males, should I also assume that Goddesses are pathetically weak to be beaten so easily? It's only fair." Madara retorted scathingly. Hecate shot him a furious look, and I glanced from one to the other, wondering who would lunge first. Itachi merely sighed, leaning back into the chair.

"What are they talking about?" Haruki whined to me and Itachi, not understanding where the conversation was going.

"Don't worry about it, Haruki. Adults tend to be childish sometimes." Itachi remarked nonchalantly. Both Madara and Hecate glared at him and I gulped, rather not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.

Suddenly the front door nearly busted open, and Kiyomi had finally returned. I was shocked to see in what a horrible state she was in. One hand was clutching her stomach, she was nearly bent over and her curly hair was all over the place. Her clothes were dirty and her lip was bleeding, plus her right arm hung limply by her side. Seeing the blood made me a bit nauseous, but since it wasn't all that much I could ignore it.

"Mama!" Haruki cried out, instantly rushing to her side. I also stood up from my seat, wondering what had happened to her as she stumbled to the couch and fell down, letting out a huge breath. Hecate scowled slightly, looking the young woman over. Tobi then also entered the house, and so did Sasuke, who seemed somewhat curious.

"What happened?" I asked immediately, standing by her side. She glanced up at me, and the empty look in her eyes sent a chill down my spine. Not only was she injured, she looked like she'd just been through hell. Itachi, by this time, had also edged closer while Madara simply watched from his seat.

Haruki's lower lip trembled and he looked like he was about to cry. Kiyomi mustered up a smile and stroked his hair.

"I'm fine, kid. Don't worry about me." she tried reassuring him, though he didn't buy it.

"B-but you're bleeding…."

"What, this?" Kiyomi said, gently touching her lip. "It's just a scratch. It'll heal in no time."

"What happened to you?" I repeated my question, still quite bemused. Was it some sort of enemy attack? Who would attack her, though? Kiyomi tore her gaze away from her son who was clutching her hand with both of his, as if afraid she'd die on the spot. She looked up at me, and sighed.

"I think I know the person who took your Goddess' powers."

* * *

**That's it for today! I updated this way earlier than I expected to :0**

**This was a pretty depressing chapter... I hope the humor near the end made up for it, at least a little. **

**Now, I'm tired, I have a mild headache, and I hope you enjoyed this pretty, uhm, dark-toned chapter. Yeah, yeah, Kiyomi's whole thing with Norio and whatever will be explained eventually, just have some patience. How do you guys like Kiyomi so far, by the way, now I'm fleshing out her character more?**

**Some random trivia. **

**Kiyomi (****清美****) means "pure beauty". Fujimoto (****藤本****), her last name and clan name, means "true wisteria". Hmm… some of you might know what I'm hinting at with this ;)**

**Haruki (****陽輝****) means "shining sun", and his nickname, Haru, can mean "spring" if you write it correctly in Japanese characters.**

**Seiji (****誠治****) means "lawful", and his last name Takaki (****高木****) means "tall tree". **

**Norio (****法男****) means "man of principles". **

**The meanings have no relevance to the story whatsoever, I just felt like putting it out there in case anyone was wondering. I love Japanese names, their meanings are often very poetic :P**

**Huge thanks to **_**Good boy-chan, Warrior of Sangre, SakuraEmma29, Shadow Realm Triforce, TwilightZelda, Red Hot-Blooded Kunoichi, Guest, Vincent the Vampie, dettaarsvenska, Untitled, SakuraSpark, Jerrie Higarashi **_**and **_**Cinxisse**_**! I adore all of your lovely reviews!**

**See ya next time, don't forget to drop some feedback again!**

**-Cloud**


	5. The Calm

**Suzan**

Rocks. Rocks everywhere. Motherfucking _rocks_. How the hell could any country have so many goddamned rocks?! Where the hell was the forest we'd walked through yesterday? All I could see in front of me, as we walked through an open plain surrounded by the barren land with a wide range of mountains surrounding us, was nothing but rocks and stones. They should've named this damn place Land of Rocks. Land of Earth implied it had fucking fertile _soil_ to grow _plants and trees_. Not to mention it was way too hot for me. I couldn't even fathom how my other three companions could withstand this heat while wearing black cloaks – meanwhile, I was starting to sweat like hell. Granted, I was also wearing black and my clothes were form-fitting, not the loose cloaks they wore, but still, dammit! I sighed for what felt like the millionth time and Hidan glanced at me from the corners of his eyes, the two of us walking behind Kakuzu, who was up front, and Deidara, who was trailing a little behind him.

"Tired already?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "We've just been walking for like, thirty minutes, ya know."

"Yeah, and I'm melting over here! Can't we take a break? Where are we even _going_?" I asked grumpily, my mood not the best at the moment.

"One of our hideouts is nearby. If we're going to contact Leader, it would be safer to do so in a closed off area instead of out in the open, yeah." Deidara explained, though I really couldn't bring myself to care. We could've gone flying on his huge clay bird, but the blond had stated he didn't have quite enough chakra for that yet.

"Do any of you have water?"

"Nope."

"No."

"None."

I held back a string of near-incomprehensible cuss words which would've otherwise escaped my lips – which, all things considered with a temper like mine, was an impressive feat. Hidan snickered, no doubt because of my face which had probably turned about as red as a tomato from the effort I was putting into not yelling at someone by now. I almost felt like smoke was going to come out of my ears or my head was going to explode otherwise. He patted my head with an amused grin.

"Cool it, Sunshine. We're nearly there." he told me, clearly not sympathizing considering how big his grin was. I guess I was probably overreacting, but seriously, I absolutely _hated _heat. It made you all sticky with sweat and dizzy and the sun was way too fucking bright so that made it hard to see – dammit, I hated sunshine altogether right now! My nickname made no sense!

"Fine, but you'll have to distract me with something." I grunted, rolling up my sleeves and suppressing the urge to rip them off. They were new and I doubted I could tear them off without ruining my entire shirt. I never got how people in movies did that, anyway.

"Like what?" Deidara asked, hands behind his head as he walked at a leisurely pace, completely untethered by the heat and light.

"You grew up in this country, right?" I asked. "Tell me a story." Deidara frowned mildly, staring up at the sky.

"You're right, I was born and raised in Iwa. I think I already told you about that time I blew up my teachers desk, right?" I nodded, recalling that vividly. Oh, how much I would've paid to been able to do that to my old teachers' desks and get away with it. "Hm, did I tell you about all the buildings I blew up when I defected?"

"Did you blow up an empty hospital?"

"No, why the hell would I do that?"

"Lame. The Joker totally did it and it was awesome."

"What?"

"Batman."

"_What_?"

"You're so lame! Didn't I show you guys that movie?" I asked, rather baffled of their ignorance of _The_ Batman. Deidara and Hidan exchanged confused glances, and I gawked at them. "The Dark Knight?"

"The what? Isn't the saying supposed to be white knight?" Hidan asked, cocking his head slightly to the left.

Oh my Batman.

"Blasphemous ignorance!" I cried dramatically, having grown bored with walking as I pointed a finger at Deidara's face who frowned at my silliness. I couldn't help myself, really. I'd loved the Batman comics ever since I'd been a kid, and the spectacular movies had just been going to Batman-land all over again for my fangirl mind. Plus, Christian Bale was hot. "How dare you not know of The Batman?! He kicked ass for your sins!"

Let's just ignore the fact their ignorance was because I never showed them the movie in the first place. Nor would I ever. What a tragic day for Batman fans everywhere.

"Wait, is this like a religious thing?" Deidara asked, probably because I was being so overly zealous about it. "Why is his name Batman?"

"Because he covers himself in the black cloak of the night! He's ever-vigilant and a guardian of justice! He's what we deserve, not what we need!"

"…He dresses up like a bat, doesn't he?"

"Pretty much." I kicked a stone in my way which accidentally then hit Kakuzu's heel. I blinked as he glanced over his shoulder with a glare. "S-sorry!" I apologized quickly, a little nervous around the short-tempered senior. With five hearts. Which transformed into monsters. Also, lots of stitches.

"Huh, we're nearly there!" Hidan suddenly exclaimed, and I frowned at him, then looked around our surroundings. No landmarks, as far as I could see. He saw my confused gaze and pointed at a large cliff wall right ahead. So, what was so special about that? There were giant rocks and mountains everywhere. I stared at the cliff he'd pointed at, and after staring at it for a few seconds, finally noticed the oddly symmetrical lightning-shaped crack in the wall. It was incredibly hard to spot and when I glanced away for just a moment I'd already lost it again. Huh.

"So the hideout is somewhere over there?" I asked curiously, feeling relieved we were nearly there. I was seriously dying for some shade and to rest a little. Plus I was starting to get hungry. I glanced at Hidan. "Can I take you up on that offer to carry me?"

"Hell no. It's way too hot to be carrying anything." I pouted at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Maybe _Deidara _is nice enough to carry me. Bridal style. Because _Deidara _is a gentleman, and _Deidara _is way nicer than– hey, what the fuck are you doing?!" I screeched indignantly when he suddenly picked me up and put me over his shoulder.

"Hey, you wanted to be carried! You didn't say how, so stop your bitching!" Hidan declared, no doubt smirking as I was way too uncomfortable in this position. "Now be a good girl and stay still, we're nearly there." He patted me on the ass and I proceeded to throw a fit.

"What the fuck?! Put me down right now, dammit! And don't ever touch my ass again you damn pervert!" I screamed at him, flailing my arms and legs at an attempt to get off. Hidan nearly lost his balance as he stumbled by my sudden movements.

"Stop– don't– fucking hell! STOP SQUIRMING! HEY, WATCH IT, WOMAN! You nearly hit my nuts!"

"Well, shit! I guess I missed!" I yelled angrily at him, not planning on giving up. "MAYBE I COULD EVEN KILL YOUR SPERM IN THE PROCESS!"

"Alright, alright, alright! Psycho bitch!" he growled and then promptly dropped me down on the ground. I glowered up at him as I stood up, wiping the dirt and dust off the back of my pants. Deidara snickered at him. "What?! I don't wanna be infertile!"

"You're a moron, yeah." the blond said with an amused smirk as we continued walking. Kakuzu was way ahead by now, no doubt wondering how he'd ended up with us batch of idiots. Hidan's temper flared and he soon started taking shots at Deidara again, whose left eye twitched at the profanities. I decided to stay at a safe distance, in case the terrorist decided to start throwing bombs at my boyfriend. I'd rather not get caught in the crossfire.

After about another walk for ten odd minutes or so, it seemed we finally arrived at our destination. I stared up at the huge cliff wall towering above us, and while the lightning bolt mark was there, I didn't see any kind of opening. I turned to look at the guys who'd all suddenly backed away, and started to get confused. What were they doing?

"Where's the entrance?" I asked. Hidan started snickering. "What's so funny?"

"You're standing on it." Kakuzu suddenly smashed his fingers into the cliff wall, sending a current to the lightning mark carved into it

"Wha–" The lightning mark lit up, and suddenly the ground below me gave in, opening up and with a loud yelp I fell down into the darkness. My ass made a rather painful contact with the earth as I then proceeded to slide down from the ground over a slope, tumbling and rolling until I finally came to a halt. I coughed at all the dust surrounding me, slowly sitting up as the other three casually walked into the underground cavern. "You could've at least given me a warning, you assholes!" I yelled, rather pissed since my new clothes were covered in dust and dirt now. It hadn't even been my money I'd spent on them, but still, money didn't grow on trees! Deidara walked past me and ruffled my hair with an amused grin.

"It was just a slight fall, no need to be a dramaqueen, yeah." I stood up as I glared at the three Akatsuki members, following them quietly. The cavern underground itself seemed very wide and fading into the large cliff wall as we walked through the tunnel. We eventually ended up in a rather dark place, in which I could barely distinct anything, until Kakuzu _somehow _managed to find a few torches strapped to the wall and light them up. The air was very dry and at first it was rather hard to breathe, but it was manageable. There was no furniture in the cave, nothing to sit on. Only rocks and dust. Huh, somehow I'd imagined them having _some _sort of place where they could stay. Apparently not. I did recall in several fanfictions I'd read how their hideouts were usually always furnished to the brim and how they shared rooms and–

Now I thought about it, all of that sounded rather stupid now and completely unfounded.

Too bad; I'd been hoping for a comfortable bed to sleep on. But it made sense. I could hardly imagine any of them dragging in furniture into dark caves and trying to make the place look presentable. They _were _a criminal organization after all, not a freaking tea party club.

_Criminal_.

The fact that ninjas from the Hidden Villages might hunt them – us – slowly started to sink in. I mean, I'd considered it before but I hadn't worried about it much. Our primary goal right now was to figure out what had exactly happened to the others, after all, and I'd been so preoccupied with that that I hadn't taken other factors into consideration. Once again, my emotions had overridden my intelligence. I sighed, wiping a smudge of dirt off my face with the back of my hand, sincerely hoping I wouldn't have to be facing any friendly ninja. I glanced at Hidan who was making fun of Deidara's art again. What would I do if someone from Konoha, like Asuma or Shikamaru, tried getting rid of him? Would I even be able to stop Hidan going off the handle? I didn't want any of them to fight, but with Hidan's religion and Kakuzu's constant bounty hunting and longing for money, I couldn't see how _I _could ever stop them. I knew nothing of fighting but throwing a few punches and kicks, I had no idea how the hell to use my chakra, and I'd never even held a weapon in my hands before.

Damn, I was weaker than an Academy student.

"Alright, I think it's about time we checked in with Leader, yeah." Deidara said, then turned to me with a grin. "You keep watch. Think you can handle that?"

"I'm not a baby." I huffed, irritated, and watched the three of them sit down. I kind of looked around for a bit, trying to see if there was anything of interest in the cave. Everything seemed incredibly dull and I opted to watch the three Akatsuki members… meditate. Uh, at least, it _looked _like they were doing something like that. I supposed they were just contacting Nagato and I would have to amuse myself for the time being.

After about five minutes of complete silence, I got utterly bored and decided to go back outside. Fresh air was preferable to sitting in a freaking cave, after all. I climbed up to the surface and sat down in front of the entrance, gazing over the barren landscape as I wondered how anyone could stand living in such a shitty country. No wonder Deidara got the hell out.

I started wondering, what would I do if everything somehow managed to work out in the end? If I were able to return back to my own world, would I do it? I had friends there, like Alex, but I had someone I possibly loved here, and some friends as well like Deidara. I actually… well, staying seemed very appealing to me. I hardly cared about my family anymore, and I doubt they cared about me either. I suppose I was selfish, but honestly, this world seemed far better than mine. It depended on Ella as well. I wondered if she'd want to stay. I'd have to ask her about all of this when we finally found each other again.

"SUZAN!"

I spun around and with a yelp lashed out with my fist, hitting something soft. Hidan gasped, clutching his groin with a pained expression.

Oops.

Deidara doubled over from laughing, as Kakuzu merely gazed at Hidan's antics while I blushed in embarrassment. They'd been busy for like twenty minutes. Couldn't blame me for getting surprised.

"I guess with her, in between fight or flight, it's fight, yeah."

"Shut up, blondie!" Hidan yelled at him, then glared at me.

"Sorry, but you shouldn't frighten me like that." I replied with an unhappy pout, seeing he was okay from my instinctive punch, then looked at Kakuzu as I stood up. "What did he say?"

"The others are in the Land of Lightning at the moment."

"Great, then we three should go–"

"That won't be necessary." Kakuzu interrupted. "The other members can relay whatever information is crucial through Leader, who will summon us if he has anything important to tell us."

"But I need to see Ella again!" I insisted stubbornly, crossing my arms with a deep frown.

"Come on, old fart! It's not like we have anything better to do!" Hidan whined in agreement, placing a hand on my head as if I were some sort of pet. Well, I couldn't exactly berate him for it; I did just punch him in the nuts, after all. Deidara had a still rather amused smirk on his face. Kakuzu glared intensely at Hidan for a moment as I put on my puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, but afterwards we'll split up immediately." he grudgingly accepted, and I smirked widely. "But _you_ need to make yourself useful. I'm not here to babysit anyone, so I suggest you learn to utilize your chakra." I blinked at this, but Hidan seemed excited.

"Bitchin'! I'll teach you some awesome moves in no time!"

"_You _are going to be her teacher? That's a bad idea, yeah." Deidara noted dryly. Hidan glared at him.

"You think you'd do better, asshole?"

"I didn't say that, you jackass, but all you know is your crappy taijutsu style. That wouldn't work for her; she has a lighter body and less muscles, yeah."

"I could always just… uh, work out my own style?" I suggested quietly, though I was more interested in doing the more crazy stuff. Like, you know, breathing fire – if I even had fire natured chakra to begin with. I would hope so.

"See?! She agrees, I'd be an awesome teacher!"

"I never said anything about your teaching skills."

"Shut up."

* * *

**Kakashi**

I had to admit – though I was tired, low on chakra and had more than one problem nagging at me in the back of my mind, even I hadn't expected that just the _sight _of Konoha was enough to calm me down. The journey was a boring one with a few stops on the way, and nothing else worth noting. I did pick up a few rumors of a series of robberies in nearby small towns, but it sounded more like a bunch of rag-tag bandits than anything else, and not really worth my attention. My priority lay in Konoha, and to see if anything had really changed, if my absence had been noted, and how long I'd been gone. Not to mention the fact that I needed to know in what time we'd ended up in. As I approached the gates, everything seemed normal enough. Izumo and Kotetsu were there, and to my surprise they simply waved at me. I didn't hesitate to give a small wave back, my tense shoulders relaxing a bit more this time as I wondered how my students were doing.

This was, as I looked around the village and the buildings and infrastructure, _definitely _before Pain attacked Konoha. Everything was exactly right before that attack. I started feeling hopeful – perhaps I could find a way to at least save Jiraiya's life, though it seemed highly unlikely I would be able to stop Pain from attacking if he'd set his sights on it. But now, at least I was prepared and fully informed on his abilities. It would no doubt prove to be vital information if the assault were to take place.

"Kakashi-sensei?" I glanced to my left at a blot of pink addressing me with unsure green staring at my face.

"Yo," I replied casually. Sakura's eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown – this was not a good sign.

"You are supposed to be resting in the hospital!"

Oh.

Well, that was not good.

"Ahaha, well, as you can see I feel a lot better now, so I decided to take a walk." She closed in on me with a disapproving scowl, hands on her hips.

"It's just been two days since we got back from Suna, you can't expect me to believe–"

"Fine, you win, I'll get back to the hospital and rest. Is that okay?" I amended, sensing her growing suspicion. Sakura was more than intelligent enough to realize something was off with me. If this was indeed just a few days after the whole ordeal in Suna and fighting the Akatsuki, I'd used my Mangekyō Sharingan and should be exhausted right now. Still, she probably was mystified by my seemingly fast recovery, and couldn't do much else but accept my compromise. I was, if I recalled correctly _ordered _for bed rest for an entire week. That wasn't going to be pleasant. As much as I liked lazing around every now and then to read a book, staying in bed for another five days was going to prove to be incredibly tedious.

"Okay. Then I'll walk back with you." she asserted with a nod, though it was obvious she was a little worried. Still, it wasn't like I could tell her about the situation; she'd most likely admit me to the psychiatric ward of the hospital if I did, and I couldn't exactly blame her either. Either way, I needed to figure out a way to warn Tsunade-sama about events taking place in the future without looking like I'd gone delirious.

"Ah, that reminds me," I speak up as we walk back towards the hospital, hoping to distract my student a little, "You and Naruto are being assigned a new team, right?" Sakura grimaced.

"Yes, we already met them a while ago. I was on my way to report to Tsunade-sama when I saw you." she muttered, not sounding very excited of the prospect of new teammates.

"What's wrong? Are they that bad?"

"Yamato-taichō is just fine… it's _Sai _I'm not sure about." She shook her head with a sigh. "Well, I guess we're just going to have to make it work somehow!" Sakura decided on a positive attitude and I smiled under my mask. "…Even if he's a complete jerk." Well, never mind then.

"So Naruto hasn't been taking it very well either?"

"No, he's… he really can't stand Sai as a… replacement, for Sasuke-kun." There was an awkward silence and I wondered how this would all work out now Itachi was alive and Sasuke was fully informed about everything. It seemed like Itachi kept him in line most of the time, and my former student seemed to have calmed down a little. I wondered where they were. Probably with the others, that is, if they hadn't all split up. I felt a pang of concern tugging at my heart strings as I pondered about Ella's safety. She was out there somewhere and who knew whether she'd found the rest and was safe or was wandering around alone in the middle of nowhere.

Yup. Staying in the hospital for a week was going to be complete torture.

"Hatake-san, what are you doing out of your bed?!" one of the nurses exclaimed angrily when we walked into the hospital, spotting me walking in with a leisurely pace.

"Well, you see–"

She didn't even let me finish as she started dragging me towards my room, not willing to hear any of my explanations as I gave Sakura a parting wave while I was led away, lecturing me on how I was not supposed to be walking around in my condition and that she did not _want _to put a guard in my room, but if I insisted on resisting the Hokage's orders it would be a necessity. I sighed and did as the nurse asked of me, finding my room to be completely empty. Strange. I was half-expecting to see myself sitting in the bed, but then that would've led to some awkward situations. Perhaps I had simply replaced the me in this time when I returned?

I changed into the more comfortable hospital clothes the nurse had left me, though I had no intention of getting into bed already, deciding to instead read one of my books until one of the doctors no doubt came to check on me once they heard how fast I'd "recovered".

This stay was going to be frustrating, to say the least.

* * *

**Obito**

She forced a smile as her kid started crying, Ella not too far behind on trying to soothe him as Kiyomi gave her wounds a look-over. She'd been in quite the battle, and I figured it had something to do with the smoke rising up from the distance, indicating a large fire. Either way, it was irrelevant. She had the identity of who'd taken Hecate's powers, which was the most important thing at the moment. Kiyomi took a deep breath, then wincing slightly. Broken ribs, probably. She carefully sat upright and brushed the stray locks of curly hair out of her face and behind her ears, glaring down at her knees.

"While I do enjoy my fair share of suspense, I think it's about time you started talking." I remarked , crossing my arms as I leaned against the table. She scowled at me.

"His name is Norio. We're from the same clan." she started talking now, the room completely silent as green shifted to stare at the ceiling while she let her head lean back on the couch. "He was banished a few years ago because of a crime he committed, and we hadn't heard of him ever since, but apparently he's back, and he's _much _stronger than I remember him to be."

I concluded several things from that explanation. Firstly, Kiyomi was skilled in hiding the truth – just not skilled enough to fool _me_, anyhow. Secondly, she had butted heads with this Norio more than once. Lastly, there was a definite possibility she was a lot closer related to him than simply being "from the same clan", as she'd so simply put it.

"Do you know where he went?" Itachi asked, and she shook her head.

"I don't know what he's planning, but it seems he moved on from his grudge against our clan. I can't say anything about what he'll do next."

"Well, at least we know who the thief is, right?" Ella chimed in optimistically as I barely suppressed an eye roll.

"One of the thieves." Hecate corrected her sharply. "Your feeble human bodies cannot handle all of my power poured into you at once. Just ask him." she nodded her head in my direction with a derisive look.

"For all your so-called "power", it didn't take much to defeat you, did it?" I sneered back, not about to let that comment from a washed up Goddess slide.

"Don't flatter yourself, _boy_. My powers had been draining away for centuries before you showed up." Ella glanced from one to the other, showing signs of anxiety as Kiyomi murmured to Haruki to go get some bandages, who nodded and quickly went on his way.

"Either way, we now know who to chase after. All we need to do now is wait." Madara interrupted the aimless conversation with a mildly irritated look.

"Wait for what?" Ella questioned, not following what he was getting at.

"A sign, obviously." Hecate twirled a lock of her hair leisurely with one finger, looking slightly better than before. "He'll get bored eventually and will test out his powers on a grander scale. It's only a matter of time." The redhead nodded slowly, as Haruki came back with the bandages, handing them over to Kiyomi who took them from him, pressing a hand on her right side. It started lighting up green – medical ninjutsu, though minor. Ella gawked at her, clearly surprised, and being the only one surprised in the room at that. Women tended to at least learn the basics with their superior chakra control they were better at such things as healing. Kiyomi went on to heal her other wounds. Well, she stopped all the bleeding, anyhow, so it was mostly superficial.

"Could you teach me that?" Ella requested timidly as Kiyomi tried wrapping a wound on her arm with a bandage, though it went rather stiffly. Itachi sat down beside her and silently took it over, bandaging the wound with deft hands.

"Thank you." Kiyomi murmured, then turned her gaze to Ella with a wry smirk, though I noticed it missed the mischievous hint it otherwise had had until now. "You don't even know how to keep a leaf on your forehead for longer than a minute. I'm afraid medical ninjutsu is far out of your range of skill right now."

"But I can practice!" the other intervened with a light frown. Kiyomi observed her in a quiet curiosity for a moment. I, on the other hand, had already figured that if Ella were to learn any type of jutsu it would be something she could support others with. She certainly wasn't the offensive type and too mild-mannered for defense as well. It was better this way; some people… simply weren't cut out to be shinobi. Kiyomi relented, though reminding her that she'd have to be incredibly diligent in her training from now on and that it wasn't going to be an easy task to learn such things at her age. Ella seemed willing enough and accepted the challenge. _I _for one couldn't wait to see how that was going to end up. Sasuke and Madara were both completely indifferent, the former occupied with staring out the window and the latter already involved in some sort of argument with Hecate. Itachi did seem interested in Ella's conviction to improve herself, and I turned to look what the two arch enemies were bickering about _now_.

"Oh? Is that a challenge I hear?" Hecate sneered at him from the couch while he was sitting on the stairs; the same spot Kiyomi had taken prior to her sudden departure.

'_Challenge?' _

"More like child's play." Madara replied back smoothly, not seeming to be perturbed by her taunts.

"I have one in my room!" Haruki chirped, seeming more cheerful now as he sat right next to his mother. What were they even talking about? Without even being asked, the boy jumped up from his seat, rushing up the stairs right past Madara. After about ten seconds he came rushing down again, a little too enthusiastically, tripping over his own feet and falling off the stairs. Madara caught him easily with one hand, the other grabbing the object he'd been holding. "Thank you, Ego-san!" Madara promptly dropped him down on the ground with an annoyed scowl. I noticed, with amusement, that my nickname was the only one which wasn't obnoxious.

Either way, it seemed the boy had brought a shōgi board and pieces in a bag with him.

"Well?" Madara spoke up to Hecate. Oh. A shōgi match.

How boring.

The former Goddess stood up with a natural elegance that wasn't _nearly _as impressive had she still had that radiance surrounding her, and walked over to where Madara had set up the board in the middle of the room, sitting down across him. There was a brief glaring competition as they set up their pieces and Madara gave her the rules of the game with as much disdain he could muster in his voice. She then eventually got it, the two starting the game while Sasuke watched, finally seeming interested in something. I decided to observe as well, not finding anything better to do.

Imagine my surprise when he lost.

Then lost for the second time.

And a third time in a row at that.

"What's the matter?" Hecate mused with a sugary sweet smile, elbow on the shōgi board as she leaned her chin on the knuckles of her right hand, batting her eyelashes. "I thought you were going to show me my place?" Madara's glare, I was certain, would've killed mortals. "And they claim _I'm _arrogant. I've lived longer than you could imagine, _boy_." That "boy" seemed to be her pet name for him now. "Don't think you could outwit me in such a simple thing as a board game." This was no doubt hard for Madara's pride to swallow, and indeed, I thought I could see the murderous twitch of the fingers while Hecate gloated, the atmosphere starting to get more tense with the minute even if the former Goddess wasn't intimidated in the least. He still needed her, after all, to get back to his own time. Ella suppressed her laughter, quickly looking away when Madara's glowering shifted to her and Kiyomi merely smirked.

"Oh, three time's a charm, you know!" Haruki pointed out, oblivious to Madara's anger. "I don't think you're gonna win anymore, mister."

"Shut up, brat."

"Now, now, you mustn't take your anger out on the innocent." Hecate scolded him with a smile.

I could swear he was _this _close to hurling the board at her.

Our stay here was _definitely _going to be an unique experience.

Kiyomi excused herself after a while, stating she was going to go get some fresh air. I, however, wanted some questions answered. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain cell that she was hiding something very big, and I suppose you could say that curiosity got the best of me. A few minutes after she'd left I slipped away, stepping out of the house and looking around to see where she'd gone off to. I wandered around the small cabin for a while, until the slightest movement from my left disturbed me. I phased out before the kunai could slice right through my eyehole, and I turned to look.

"Is this how you usually greet people?" I inquired sarcastically, Kiyomi standing near a particularly thick tree several feet away and glowering at me.

"I don't know how much you heard, but it's none of your business." she snapped at me, obviously referencing to the fight against that Norio man. I hadn't picked up much, but enough to know there was some sort of history between them.

"Heh. That's fine, I won't force you to tell me. I suppose it's only fair." I replied after a few seconds of silence. "But don't blame me for trying."

"And why shouldn't I?" she bit back, narrowing her eyes. That reaction amused me somewhat, and I walked over to the kunai which was stuck in the wall of the cabin, pulling it out.

"You're connected to the person who caused all of this mess. Can you blame me for trying to investigate?" I answered casually, holding up the kunai and watching the fading sunlight glint off its sharp blade. Kiyomi remained silent, unmoving as she regarded me with a suspicious look.

"Just who are you?"

"Ah, ah, ah. A secret for a secret." I said, wagging my finger back and forth with the words.

"Answer me this, then. Should I feel threatened?"

"Do you?" She was silent for a moment.

"Yes." I chuckled.

"Smart girl." I threw the kunai, the tip penetrating the tree right next to her. She didn't flinch, but seemed to feel safe enough to watch me even though she wasn't that far away. "For now, be glad we seem to have a… mutual objective. It seems pretty obvious to me you want this Norio taken care of as much as we do. Working together is the only option at the moment."

"And after that?" she questioned as I turned my back on her and started walking back towards the front door of the cabin. I stopped for a moment and felt her gaze fixated on my back.

"After that, well, if you're in my way, I can't guarantee you'll get out alive." I muttered coolly, glancing at her from over my shoulder. She was scowling, but didn't respond, and I left her there to contemplate my words.

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait, I'm in my last year of high school and things get hectic with school work.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter though!**

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**Major thanks to **_**Shadow Realm Triforce, Untitled, SakuraEmma29, mks 12 98, Good boy-chan, Omigesh, Red Hot-Blooded Girl, Guest, Jerrie Higarashi, WSIK, Cinxisse, The Source Behind the Shadow, PixieKat6, KonohasBlackReaper, 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10, PurplePunkette, dettaarsvenska, SakuraSpark, JaggerMania, AngelWings0409, Guest, 1, Arac14, woof-chan1, AznRomance x3, Random Reviewer, Ferocia, rachel, Crazyblazer321**_** and **_**Cece**_** for reviewing! You guys are awesome!**

**Drop another review, and I'll see ya later!**


	6. Muse

**Ella**

"Come on, ten more!"

Sweat was rolling off my forehead and my neck, my hair tied in a tight bun, the bright sunshine sizzling on my skin as my chest was starting to hurt. It hadn't taken me long to find out that Kiyomi was a merciless teacher. I'd been running laps around the cabin for a while now—my muscles were hurting and breathing was starting to get harder with every lap. Kiyomi watched from the sidelines with her arms crossed, Haruki mulling over a book on the basics of elemental ninjutsu and chakra. He wasn't all that physically skilled but he was a very smart kid, and had a relatively good hold on chakra control after some practice.

"H-how… long… am I supposed to… run?!" I panted, really starting to get tired. Kiyomi frowned slightly at this.

"Until you can't run anymore, of course."

"Whaaaat?!"

"If you want to be even one iota of help you need to improve your stamina. It wouldn't benefit anyone if you ran out of breath during a chase. You can't expect Bishōnen-san to carry you around everywhere, can you?" Kiyomi called, sitting down on the grass next to Haruki while she looked over his shoulder, checking what he was reading. I, in the meantime, was getting seriously dizzy and my heartbeat was pounding in my head. Even though I was dressed in a tiny top that left my belly exposed and tiny shorts I still felt incredibly hot. Eventually my legs gave out and I collapsed on the ground face-forward.

The grass felt delightfully cooling to my overheated body and I felt I could fall asleep right then and there. Kiyomi and Haruki were out of sight, as I collapsed behind the cabin and they were sitting near the front. I closed my eyes for a few moments, listening to nature as I rested and slowly, but steadily, felt my pounding heart calm down. It was then that the sun was blocked and I opened my eyes again, staring up at an orange mask looming over me ominously. By this point I'd gotten too used to Tobi to get frightened, but I was still somewhat thrown off.

"That's… rather sad. You didn't even last for more than an hour."

"It's impressive for my standards." I muttered, turning my head the other way and hoping he'd buzz off already. Instead Tobi sat down next to me on the grass, apparently determined to torture me. To my surprise though, he remained silent. After five minutes of nothing, I slowly sat up, staring at him inquisitively. He shot a brief look my way before sighing.

"You'll die this way, you know."

My jaw dropped.

"T-Tobi… are you WORRIED about me?!" He rubbed the back of his head, before leaning back on his hands.

"Well, tormenting you _has _made my days a bit brighter. I think I'll make it my new hobby."

"…Never mind."

Someone walking out the woods caught our attention. It was Hecate. She'd cut her white robes short to a little above her knees, though it was still very much reminiscent of the Ancient Greek style of clothing. It seemed she refused to wear anything else if she could help it—and though she'd gotten much healthier, there was still something awfully gloomy about her that I couldn't put my finger on. It was almost depressing to look at, really. Once, she must've been truly stunning.

"Oh? Where did you come from?" Tobi inquired as Hecate walked past us, towards the cabin. She stopped momentarily, glancing back at us over her shoulder.

"I went to observe the village that was destroyed by our thieves." she drawled apathetically. "Sloppy, as I expected."

"Sloppy? They _murdered _innocent people and that's all you have to say about it?" I replied agitated, sitting up as I wiped the sweat off my forehead. She rolled her eyes.

"It's not in my nature to weep for the fallen, child. Death is but the next big adventure; certainly not the end."

I don't know how I thought of it, why I thought of it, or why it even mattered, but my thoughts just wandered off when she'd said that. I pondered – she was a Goddess, so of course death wouldn't seem like much to her at all. Someone so powerful and so knowledgeable– that's when it clicked in my head, as I turned to look at Tobi sitting beside me.

He saw my look, and narrowed his one visible eye. I looked up at Hecate who was eyeing me with a cold curiosity, no doubt because of the surprised look on my face at the realization. "Hecate?" I asked hesitantly, not sure how she would respond.

"What is it?"

"You… know a lot of things, right?"

"That's putting it lightly." she scoffed, crossing her arms. "Why do you ask?"

"W-well, you would know who's under… under that mask, right?"

Hecate's ice blue eyes widened just a little, and from the corners of my eyes I saw Tobi stiffen. I directed my gaze down at the grass in front of me, feeling entirely uneasy now and wondering why I'd let my curiosity get the better of me and had asked her while he'd been present. A light laughter made me look up, and I saw Hecate shaking her head as she chuckled, Tobi glaring at her as he slowly stood up from the ground. I stood up as well, though I wasn't sure why or what I'd do.

"Do you really want to know?" Hecate asked me sweetly; clearly she was amused now she could torment Tobi. I blinked, glancing nervously at Tobi who had his gaze fixed on the Goddess. I slowly nodded, my shoulders tense as I subtly shifted away from Tobi.

"Don't make any rash decisions, Hecate." the masked man told her smoothly, though the threatening undertone in his voice was clear as glass. She gave him a taunting look.

"What would you do to silence me, hmm?" she responded, and I took another step back. She was glaring him openly in the eyes now and I could feel the tension in the air; the ringing of an inevitable confrontation. "You're a strange man. You seem to have convinced yourself that you don't care about anything anymore – so then why are you hiding behind that mask? Is it because you're afraid to meet K–"

"Tobi!" I yelled alarmed, his hand cutting off Hecate's oxygen, fingers clamped around her throat. There was no pain on her face, just a triumphant look as she struggled to breathe, knowing she'd managed to push his buttons so effectively. "Tobi, enough! Let her go!" I cried out in a panic, grabbing his arm and trying to pry him off her.

"Why do you care?" he spat at me venomously. "She brings nothing but misery!"

"That's in the past! If we want to stop these thieves we still need her!" I pleaded. He regarded me for a few seconds longer with an unreadable look before he released Hecate. I sighed, glad that had been resolved semi-peacefully. I wasn't sure what I felt about Hecate, or if I could even understand her. She treated humans like insects. It had to be because she'd put herself in this bubble for so long, detached completely from everyone else and harboring a grudge for centuries – I didn't know what to do with her. Her actions in the past had just been pure evil, but she wasn't even human. How would I judge someone like that when human standards don't even apply anymore?

"You can just keep his secret." I muttered, still a little disappointed I hadn't found out. Suzan had always made these ridiculously complex theories about who was hiding behind that mask, ranging from Izuna to Kagami to the son of the Sage of Six Paths himself. I hadn't really thought about which one made the most sense; I just put my bets on Obito because that was the simplest explanation. Suzan really did over-think things sometimes.

I wondered how she was doing, and whether she was safe, with the others… with Kakashi, maybe. How was he doing? Had he gone back to Konoha already or was he… looking for me? Would he be? I bit my lip as I sat back down on the grass, watching Hecate leave to the cabin while Tobi wandered off as well. Kakashi would probably have to go back to Konoha first. He had students to take care of, after all, and maybe people had realized he'd been missing.

I still wished I could see him soon, and Suzan too. The two of us, we had to figure out what we were going to do, if we were going home – Alex, I was certain, was doing fine without us. She was a strong girl and could take care of herself. The two of us, though, we didn't have much else waiting back in our own world. Suzan had always had trouble with her family, and I… well….

I missed them. My parents, Wyatt, Eva – and now Suzan, and Alex, and Kakashi, and even Deidara and Hidan's antics, and Kakuzu's scathing sarcasm–

Suddenly I felt alone. So very alone.

* * *

**Kiyomi**

When I saw Ella finally walking back, she seemed a little depressed. I hadn't moved from my spot next to Haruki, figuring I'd give Ella a quick break before we moved on to train her chakra control again. As I gave her a leaf and she put it on her forehead again, I studied the sullen look in her dark blue eyes. I wondered what had happened to make her look so morose; certainly it couldn't just be the laps I'd forced her to run?

"I won't surprise you this time, so just focus on your chakra, alright?" I told her, not commenting on how she looked, as I sat back down on the ground, Haruki starting to grow bored of the book. He looked up at me with his large, hazel eyes and pouted.

"Go get my sketch book." I told him, and he smiled, getting up and running off to the cabin while Ella was frowning deeply in concentration. The leaf was dangling from her head but it kept sticking there, despite the light breeze pushing against it. It seemed she was picking up on it quite fast, and I was impressed. For not having had chakra the first twenty-odd years of her life she seemed to have a natural talent with controlling it.

It didn't take long for Haruki to come hurrying back with my sketchbook and a few pencils, handing them over. "Can I go take a walk, mom?" he asked me then, clearly having grown bored of doing anything else.

"Don't go too far, and be back in an hour." I said with a nod, and he grinned widely, running off to no doubt find some kind of form of adventure. I, meanwhile, flipped my sketchbook open and picked a blank page, right next to the previous sketch I'd made of Statue-san sleeping. I glanced up at Ella, observing her closely. I started with the shape of her body and head. She was slender with curves, and her hands were very feminine, but her fingers were long and thin – which could look both elegant or utterly creepy depending on circumstances. If I saw fingers like those reaching out to me from the shadows I'd definitely be frightened a bit.

She had a pointy nose, which I had fun emphasizing as I continued to draw and the minutes ticked away. Her hair was thin, but its wavy pattern made it look thicker than it actually was, and in my drawing I let it fall over her shoulders with more flair than it actually had. This time, I made the sketch hold color. I felt Ella didn't look right in black-and-white; or rather, didn't _feel _right.

When I was finally finished, I stood up from the ground and plucked the leaf off her head, which had been surprisingly steady on her head. She blinked and turned to me with a flustered look, and I held out my sketchbook.

"Oh! That's me?" she noted with surprise as she studied the sketch, then smiled warmly. "It looks lovely."

"Thanks." I replied, though I wasn't very satisfied. It had just been a casual sketch and had some flaws I could work on – her arms were longer than I would've liked, and she looked skinnier as well, plus the background had been drawn quite haphazardly. The essence was still decent, though, so I supposed it passable. Still, I would've preferred something _more_. I needed a muse, something to inspire me.

"Take another break." I said as took my sketchbook back, turned around and started walking off, wondering if there wasn't something in the forest that could flare up my motivation.

"Where are you going?" Ella called curiously.

"Just taking a walk." I replied without turning around, moving in between the trees towards a very specific location I'd discovered a while ago. It was a small clearing in the woods with a little lake and the trees packed tightly together, and thus fairly hard to spot. It possessed a very soothing atmosphere and I figured that sitting there for a while would help me find my inspiration. I really just wanted to get my thoughts off of everything that was happening with Norio, and drawing was my only escape for that.

As I slipped through the trees and out into the clearing, I stiffened when seeing another was already present. This I had not expected; Itachi Uchiha sat against the tree where I normally sat, right in front of the lake. He watched the water lilies drift calmly in the clear water, which shone dimly as a few rays of sunlight managed to sneak through the thick leaves of the trees and hit its surface gently. That light in the lake was reflected in his eyes, his Sharingan gaining a shade of richer red that almost made it glow. His expression was so calm it was like the serenity of the lake was reflected on his face, the locks framing his face swaying back and forth lightly with the soft summer wind. It took my breath away, it took my thoughts away, and I didn't realize I'd _actually _stopped breathing until he turned to look at me questioningly.

"Sorry, did I disturb you?" I asked quietly, my fingers itching as I clutched my sketchbook tightly, my inner voice screaming at me from the back of my head that I _had _to put this on paper, I _had _to capture this moment of nature's perfection before it slipped through my fingers like smoke.

"Not at all." he answered smoothly, his voice only adding to the tranquil atmosphere, before he looked back to stare at the lake. I was silent for a few seconds, until the question burning on my tongue refused to stay inside.

"Can I draw you?" He blinked, looking back at me; and though his eyes betrayed no surprise, I was pretty sure I'd at least caught him off guard somewhat.

"If you want." was the soft response, his gaze this time sticking on me as I sat down exactly where I stood and flipped my book open. "Should I stay still?"

"Just stay seated and that will be enough." I replied distractedly, already busy sketching outlines with much greater care than usual. Silence fell; I too absorbed in my drawing to talk and he too comfortable with the quiet to interrupt it. I decided that the rough outline of his body was enough and instead went to work on the flora and fauna around him. I used vivid greens, soft pinks and earth browns for the plants and trees and flowers – a stark contrast to Itachi's simple black, white and red. I lost my perception of time, and before I knew it, sun was already setting. I looked up in surprise when I finally noticed it, the orange glows of the sky creating an even more beautiful scene I could've imagined. I quickly added the fading sunlight to the sketch.

Then came Itachi. My pencil hovered hesitantly over the half-finished drawing of him. His environment was done expertly, but if I didn't manage to get him right, the whole drawing would be ruined. I glanced up at him several times while I pondered how to best go about it, when he broke the silence.

"How long have you been drawing, Kiyomi-san?"

I gazed at him inquisitively for the sudden question. "A few years. I only got serious about it after I left my clan, though." I answered, and Itachi looked back at the lake.

"Why did you leave?" he then asked, and I opened my mouth to reply with something evasive, but nothing came out. I couldn't think of any lies or excuses. I shut my lips and stared back down to my sketch, slowly adding some lines. His voice helped me draw.

"They were too hung up about traditions and condemned anything and anyone outside of their own little world. It drove me mad, so I got out of there when I got the chance." I answered while carefully working on his eyes, looking up every now and then to make sure I had it right. I wanted especially to draw those peculiar lines under his eyes perfectly. They added a strange charm to him.

"Give me an example."

"I'd… never meant to adopt Haruki, but the boy had been on the brink of death when he stumbled into our village, and after nursing him back to health, I couldn't abandon him. No one else wanted him, because he wasn't part of the _clan_. They'd kick a little boy out to starve again or worse. It made me sick." Itachi didn't say anything after that for a few more minutes as I sketched his cloak, filling it in with black and red, leaving his face alone for now, as I didn't know what to do with his lips and left it blank. I think he knew that there was more to it than that, but didn't comment on it.

"Do you think you made the right decision?"

I stopped drawing to stare at him again. "With leaving the clan? I don't know. I just did what I thought was best at the time."

"You don't think you could've changed things?" he remarked, looking at me with that dead calm gaze piercing straight through me. I narrowed my eyes in response.

"Maybe, maybe not. It doesn't matter now."

"So it doesn't bother you that you might have been able to prevent the attack on your clan, had you stayed?" There was nothing deriding or haughty about his tone, which was what ticked me off even more. He sounded so _sure_ of himself; meanwhile the death of my mother was still burned vividly in my memory, along with my father's expression filled with such bitter disappointment, such ire, such grief.

"What would _you_ know? You destroyed yours." I bit back harshly, gritting my teeth as I glared at him. He didn't react. Not one bit.

"You fled from your responsibilities." he pointed out.

"I did what was best for me and Haruki!"

"So you ran–" I slammed my sketchbook down on the grass.

"Yes, yes I ran!" I yelled at him, vision momentarily blinded with fury. "So what if I ran?! So what if I wasn't brave enough?!" I lowered my eyes to the ground, my gut slowly filling with shame at my cowardice. He was right. If I'd stayed, things could've been different. Mother could've still been alive. In the end, I'd been selfish, and I had to pay for it with my mother's life. "Not everyone can be a hero. " I whispered, holding back tears as I glowered down at the sketch.

"I'm glad you understand." Itachi spoke solemnly, though I had not the desire nor the strength to face him again. "Bottling that up, must've been hard on you." This took me by surprise as my eyes flitted back to him again.

"You…?" He'd pulled this out of me, to make me feel better? I certainly did feel a huge load off my chest, and now I'd acknowledged it, I'd be able to grieve and move on. "Why would you do that for me?" A ghost of a smile formed on his lips as he stared at the lake. I gasped quietly at the scene, immediately looking down at the unfinished sketch. Now I knew what his lips would look like.

"I suppose… in some ways, you remind me of myself."

The slightest curve, barely visible in a thin line, locks of hair hovering over it as the figure on my sketch stared out sadly over the water, red eyes glowing dimly under the shadows of the tree. I put the sketch and my pencil down. It was finished.

"Beautiful," I breathed, almost amazed that I'd managed to draw this much, that I'd managed to capture this serene scene rarely seen so masterfully. My fingers hurt; hell, my eyes stung from hardly blinking, but this sketch wasn't _just_ a sketch – it was everything I felt from his presence poured into a single page. I finally noticed Itachi staring at me with mild curiosity, and I stood up, taking the sketch with me, walking over to him and handing it over.

Itachi stared down at it, eyes scanning over every piece of it, every detail, though his expression was unreadable as always. I waited patiently for a response.

"Beautiful," he agreed, and I couldn't help but smile, a certain warmth growing in my chest at the compliment. I hadn't even realized the sun had set and the sky had faded into night. I sat down next to him, and he flipped a page back, looking over the sketch I'd drawn from Ella.

Then I decided it was time for some payback.

"Why did you kill your clan?"

Itachi immediately turned his head to look at me due to my blunt question; my green eyes piercing his for a change. He held my gaze before handing back my sketchbook.

"A necessary evil." was his reply. So lifeless. I titled my head slightly to the side. There was something haunting about him, something terribly sad, and something cold all at the same time.

"You said I remind you of yourself." I stated, pulling my knees up to my chest and leaning my head on it sideways as I looked at him; from up close, now I realized how beautiful every single feature of his was, my hands couldn't wait to put it down on paper again, again, and again; I felt like I could just endlessly draw portraits and sketches of him and I would never be sated.

"I did."

"Why?"

"When you spoke of how your clansmen were too infatuated with their own traditions, how they condemned anything foreign, I related to your frustration. I recognized it within myself; or how I used to be." he explained, a firefly passing by his face, momentarily illuminating it with its light. I bit my lip, the itch to draw almost tortuous.

"Will you ever come clean about what really happened?" I asked, shifting to lean back a little as I watched several fireflies appear now near the lake.

"I don't know. It's not something I can easily get off my chest after all this time has already passed."

He reminded me of a wilted rose.

"I understand." We were silent. I watched him watch the lights fly by over the water. "I think you're my muse now."

The slightest hint of surprise was briefly visible in Itachi's eyes. I wondered whether he was starting to get more comfortable around me now. He seemed to be searching for words for a while, before he finally found a proper response.

"I'm flattered."

I chuckled. "You don't sound flattered."

"I'm also surprised." he admitted. "What made me your muse?"

"Everything."

"That's not much of an answer."

I smiled teasingly. "You're beautiful." Itachi was silent and simply stared, seemingly at a loss for words. His lips parted slightly; hesitantly.

"Oh."

I don't think I ever laughed harder in my life. He looked away as I chuckled, and I was entirely enamored by such an awkward response from someone otherwise so composed. He didn't look embarrassed – not that I could tell, anyway. Of course he _was _a master of hiding his emotions. Nonetheless, his reaction pleased me.

I stood up from the ground, grabbing my sketchbook and pencils. "I'm heading back; it's getting late." He wordlessly stood up as well, and we left the clearing, heading towards the cabin in an amiable silence.

* * *

**Suzan**

Training was much tougher than I'd expected. I was good at running and the sort, so building up my stamina hadn't been so bad – it was the chakra stuff that I was bad at. It wasn't necessarily chakra control either, I just had horrible concentration for some reason. Too many thoughts weighed down on my mind and I didn't have the discipline to focus on my feet enough just so I could climb a freaking wall. After the first three times I'd fallen down from the rock wall Hidan had stopped catching me as well, which annoyed me heavily.

"My ass is getting bruised up, here!" I called to him with a glare, as he was lazing around on top of a large rock, Deidara sitting next to him and molding some clay in his hands while Kakuzu was sitting against the rock wall I was trying to climb up against, still like a statue.

"Get used to it, Sunshine."

"STOP calling me that!" I sighed, getting up off the ground and brushing the dust and dirt off my pants again, before glaring up at the wall. I'd pretty much declared it my arch nemesis by now and by god I was going to reach the top even if it took me the rest of this day.

_Five hours later_

Well, what do you know? It took me the rest of this fucking day. I hadn't even actually ran up the entire way through – I'd only barely reached _near _the top, to which I'd basically climbed the rest of the way through, fearing that I would fall to my death or whatever as the wall was fifteen meters high.

Hidan was contently snoring on top of the rock he'd been sitting on, while Deidara was staring up at me from the ground. Kakuzu hadn't moved an _inch_. How did he sit so still like a statue for _hours on end_?!

"Good job, Sunshine!" Deidara called with a smirk, and I groaned.

"Not you too…." I huffed, scowling down at him, then looking up. No clouds, a crescent moon hanging in the sky while stars shone brightly, not dimmed by city lights for a change. It was a beautiful scene, and only made me grow more fond of this world if that had been even possible. Maybe staying actually was an option for me. This place just seemed so much better than the misery I'd known from my own world.

I looked down at Deidara.

Then I realized–

"Um, Deidara?"

"Yeah?"

"How the hell do I get down from here?!" He opened his mouth to respond but I glared at him. "I swear to god if you say _'just jump'_ I will make sure to jump right on top of you and squash you like a cockroach!" Deidara closed his mouth again, giving me a pensive look.

"But you can't actually _squash _cockroaches, yeah."

I facepalmed.

Then I sighed, sitting down at the edge of the rock. I'd always been comfortable with heights, but I didn't want to jump and break my legs or something. "Please get me down from here? _Please_?" I asked as nicely as I could, and Deidara frowned, giving in as he ran up the wall effortlessly, within seconds standing right next to me while I got up again, a little surprised that my pleading had actually worked.

"You'll have to learn how to strengthen your feet with chakra to make large jumps too, yeah." he advised me as he lifted me up in his arms. For being short for a guy, I noticed he was still pretty strong.

"I know, but I think that's a little too advanced for me right now." I admitted embarrassed, as we descended with no problems, landing safely on the ground where he put me down. Hidan half-woke up, his sleepy face gaping at me and Deidara.

"Are ya done with the running stuff?" he asked blearily as I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah. Thanks for the help." I said sarcastically.

"No probs." He turned around and fell back asleep, continuing to snore loudly.

"How does he even sleep like that?" I wondered aloud, as the rock didn't look to comfortable a place to rest. Deidara shrugged, and I finally realized that these guys were planning to just sleep around in the open like this. "Um, where am I supposed to sleep?" I asked unsurely.

"Dunno. Wherever you want."

I frowned, looking around for a while, until a devious idea occurred to me, as I snuck up on Hidan sleeping on top the large rock. "Wherever I want, huh?" I grabbed his cloak, and gave a jerk with all my strength. Hidan fell off the rock with a surprised yelp, landing on the ground with a loud thud, and glowered up at me with an angry look.

"What's wrong with you?! I was sleeping!" he complained while Deidara snickered at him, leaning against the rock the immortal man had been lying on and closed his eyes, comfortable sleeping like Kakuzu was.

"Take off your cloak."

"What? Why the hell would I–"

"Just take it off!"

"Why?!"

"Please?" Hidan muttered some curses under his breath as he pulled his cloak off with some effort while sitting up on the ground. I grabbed it from him, then lied down, putting my head on his bare chest and pulling the cloak over me like a blanket. "Thanks. I needed a bed." I said, shifting a little to be more comfortable as I closed my eyes. I heard Deidara make mock-gagging noises at the show of affection but ignored him.

"Tch, annoying brat." I heard my boyfriend huff, but despite his complaints, his arms wrapped around me. I felt warm, and cozy, and utterly content despite the hard ground beneath us. But of course he had to ruin it. "I'd better get laid for this."

"Not if you keep asking." I mumbled back, already feeling myself drifting off to sleep.

"Forever a virgin–"

"Shut up, blondie!"

_The next morning_

Sore muscles. I heard snoring right above me, and my head moved slightly with the movements of someone's chest as they breathed. It took me a while to recall what happened the evening before as I slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes out. Man, being an Akatsuki really sucked. Camping out in the open like this with no decent beds really didn't do my body any good.

I looked around to find Deidara sitting a few feat away, messing around with his clay as he so often did. It seemed to be afternoon, which meant I – Hidan and I, actually, had slept for quite a while. My eyes shifted to look at Kakuzu, or rather, the spot where Kakuzu had been resting. He was absent.

"Where did gramps go?" I asked groggily, putting my hands through my hair in an effort to fix it, then stood up, putting the cloak back over Hidan to cover his chest as he kept happily sleeping on. Deidara looked up at me.

"A nearby village. It was off-course so he decided to go alone, plus you guys were still asleep and neither of us felt like waking you up. Too much of a pain in the ass, yeah." the bomber explained, opening his hand to reveal a clay bird which hopped down on the ground, before flying up into the sky, circling around Deidara's head.

"Oh. Wait, we have a course?" I asked bemused, not having realized that.

"Did you think we were just randomly wandering around in search for the others?" the blonde asked dryly.

"I hadn't actually thought about it." I clarified, kicking a stone as I walked over to him, starting to feel a little hungry.

"Well, we do have a course. Rumors from the last town we went through said that people near Kumo saw something falling out the sky a few days ago, so that's where we're headed, yeah."

"Makes sense." I was silent as I looked around, not sure what to do. "I'm getting kind of hungry." The clay bird gracefully landed on Deidara's right shoulder as he looked up at me.

"There's another village on-course. We'll get some food there."

"How far is it?"

"An hour away, yeah."

"An _hour_?!" Deidara smirked.

"On foot. I'll get us there much quicker on my bird." he reassured me, and I stared down at his clay creation. Of course he wouldn't randomly make a clay bird to set it loose. I felt kind of silly for not realizing that before.

"That's good." I looked at Hidan who was still sleeping. "Should I wake him up?" Deidara shrugged.

"If you can." I nodded and just as I turned around, something big landed right in front of me very suddenly, and I let out a shriek, stumbling back and almost falling down; completely taken by surprise. It took me a few seconds to realize it was in fact Kakuzu, who was gazing down at me blankly.

"Er… good morning?" I tried awkwardly. He stared. Then he ignored my entire existence, turning to look at Deidara instead. Well, couldn't say I wasn't used to that.

"Did you find out anything?" the blonde asked curiously, standing up as well, making the bird fly up into the sky again.

Kakuzu glanced at Hidan before he answered. "Nothing about the other members being sighted." Disappointment settled in my stomach, until Kakuzu continued, to which that disappointment was swiftly replaced by shock. "However, I did find out that Kumogakure was attacked yesterday morning."

"What? Who would be crazy enough to do that?!" I exclaimed, knowing all too well what monsters the Raikage and Killer B were. Kakuzu seemed to finally acknowledge me as he turned his head towards me.

"Whoever they are, they were strong enough to decimate half of the village."

Deidara shared my reaction; his jaw nearly dropped and his eyes widened in surprise. "Damn, was it one of ours?" he asked, face aghast. I, likewise, wasn't sure what to think.

"No. No one could identify the culprits." Kakuzu replied, a hint of irritation in his tone. "Either way, everyone is still pointing fingers at the Akatsuki. We'll have to be on guard from now on." I started growing seriously concerned now; if we ever faced danger, other shinobi, how would that end up? Technically _they _were the good guys and the Akatsuki were the bad guys. But what could I do in my position? I was far too weak to stop any of them from killing other shinobi if they really wanted to – Hidan definitely would if he got the chance.

All I could do for the moment was hope we didn't run into any other shinobi; but something else was bothering me heavily. This attack on Kumogakure was not according to the storyline at all, and apparently it hadn't been any character that I knew of but someone who was ridiculously strong nonetheless.

Who could it have been?

* * *

**I have to be honest with you guys and confess that my interest in this story – and the Naruto fandom in general – has been starting to decline. Your reviews help me a lot to keep this going, but with the latest chapters being so sub-par lately, I haven't gotten excited for Naruto in a long time. I am still determined to see this story through to the end because you guys deserve at least that much (passed the 100 reviews already! That's freaking AMAZING!) but I guess it'll be slower than AIMH was since I was Naruto-crazy during that time. **

**I just need more… encouragement, let's say. Haha, much like Kiyomi, I need to find a muse! Inspiration, or whatever! You know, fanart would help a lot. I've often wondered what my OCs would look like on paper but I'm shit at drawing, so yeah… but if any of you would want give it a go, I think that would be super awesome (and also motivate me more for this story :P). **

**Major thanks to **_**Fellowship of Avengers, Red Hot-Blooded Girl, NarutardOtaku45, Jerrie Higarashi, SakuraEmma29, Good boy-chan, Prevaricator, PixieKat6, dettaarsvenska, Omigesh, Untitled, random admirer, naimii, mks 12 98, AznRomance x3, OmNomNom, Random Reviewer, Akatsuki's Bitch, sai ninja, ILOVEU **_**(I love you too, anon)**_**, Luvrainluv, suomalainen, Dodectron, Hey **_**(Hi!)**_**, Yorushi, **_**and **_**jay 8P **_**for reviewing! You guys ROCK! I LOVE YOU ALL! ALL MY HEARTS FOR YOU!**

**Drop a review, tell me what you liked most about this chapter, and I'll see ya next time!**


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